Philip Rivers Is Really Done with the NFL After Brief Return to Professional Football: 'Hell No'
- - Philip Rivers Is Really Done with the NFL After Brief Return to Professional Football: 'Hell No'
Ingrid VasquezJanuary 2, 2026 at 12:57 AM
0
Steph Chambers/Getty
Philip Rivers warms up prior to the game against the Seattle Seahawks on December 14, 2025
After playing three games with the Indianapolis Colts this season, Philip Rivers is truly done with professional football.
The 44-year-old dad of 10, who came out of retirement to quarterback the Colts for the tail end of this season, confirmed he'll now step away from football for good in a clip from the Up & Adams Show posted on X on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
"Hell no. I am [done]," he said. "I got a son who will be a senior, and that St. Michael football team ready to go. We got beat in the semifinals two years in a row. So, it’ll be his senior year. My second son will be a ninth grader, so they’ll be on the same team together."
Philip Rivers is retiring. pic.twitter.com/V9FSocYJyJ
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) January 1, 2026
Rivers announced his first retirement in 2021 after playing in the NFL for 17 seasons. That same year, he took over as the football coach of St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Alaska, per NFL.com.
The athlete said, "It’ll be fun to get back to the boys back home" who he said have been "really excited."
"A lot of them came to the game last week," shared Rivers. "It’ll be fun. It’ll kick-start our offseason program, to say the least. Maybe some things I say to them they’ll take it a little more seriously now that I was just out there playing a few weeks ago."
Jane Gershovich/Getty
Philip Rivers throws a touchdown pass on December 14, 2025
Rivers stepped into the quarterback position with his old team after quarterback Daniel Jones tore his Achilles. He admitted that there would be "no chance" for him to come out of retirement if it hadn't been with the Colts.
"It was a place I’d been, a team I was familiar with, the offense was exactly the same, a coach I knew, it was all those things, our football season was over, all those things made it kinda the perfect storm," said Rivers during the Up & Adams appearance.
After being asked if he would consider joining a different team if he were called up next season, Rivers reiterated that he is "back to the sideline."
Lance King/Getty
Philip Rivers attends North Carolina Tar Heels vs NC State Wolfpack game on November 29, 2025
"This was a fun three-week blur that nobody saw coming, including myself, and that will be it," he said.
Although Riley Leonard will play quarterback for the final game of the season, Rivers previously said he had no regrets about coming back to professional football.
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"I got three bonus games that I never saw coming and couldn't be more thankful that I got an opportunity," he previously shared with reporters.
on People
Source: “AOL Sports”
