Colts Turn To Quarterback Philip Rivers

Eight-time Pro Bowl passer agrees to reported one-year, $25-million deal to play 17th NFL season with the Colts. He's reunited with two former Chargers assistants in Colts head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Siriani.

Darren Yamashita/USA Today Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — If nothing else, Philip Rivers’ last name is fitting as the Indianapolis Colts’ bridge quarterback.

The Colts and the 38-year-old, eight-time Pro Bowl passer agreed on Tuesday to a one-year deal worth $25 million, according to multiple reports, which means Rivers is expected to replace quarterback Jacoby Brissett as the 2020 starter.

So the Colts’ quarterback situation is settled for now. For at least one year. Hence, the term, “bridge” quarterback. Both sides benefit in the short term.

The Colts buy themselves a one-year extension on finding a quarterback for the future. Rivers, who has passed for 59,271 yards and 397 TDs in 16 seasons with the Chargers, gets to play for at least one more year. That the Colts didn’t commit to more than one year seems telling.

This marriage had been speculated ever since the Chargers announced they wouldn’t re-sign him because Colts head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Siriani developed a strong bond as Chargers assistants with the quarterback.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard had to be convinced. And the money had to be right. While $25 million seems pricy, it’s to be expected for an established player who is expected to bring instant credibility to his new team.

What happens to Brissett? He’s scheduled to earn $21.3 million this season in the last year of a contract extension he signed after quarterback Andrew Luck retired in August. It’s highly questionable another team would want to inherit that contract in a trade. If he’s the backup, that means the Colts would release Brian Hoyer, who was set to count $5 million but the team can release him without taking a cap hit.

The Colts ranked near the bottom in most major passing categories and Brissett failed to throw a TD pass nor for more than 200 yards in his last three starts.

As much as Ballard and Reich have always said the right things about Brissett, how they believe in him and think he can be a solid NFL starter, they couldn’t help but admit after last season’s 7-9 fade with seven losses in the last nine games that more was needed from the position.

Now the question is simple: Can Rivers, who turns 39 in December, provide what has been missing?

Reich was Rivers’ quarterback coach in 2013 he led NFL with a career-high 69.5 completion percentage. He passed for 4,478 yards and 32 TDs with just 11 interceptions that year.

Since becoming a starter in his third season in 2006, Rivers hasn’t missed a game, 16 starts each year since. That was the first of six years he led the Chargers to the postseason. The farthest he’s advanced in the playoffs was in the 2007 postseason, when he was injured in a 28-24 road win over the Indianapolis Colts at the RCA Dome in the Divisional round. The Chargers lost the AFC Championship game 21-12 at New England.

The addition comes on the heels of the Colts trading on Monday their first-round pick in next month’s draft to acquire All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner from San Francisco. The two sides agreed to a four-year, $84-million extension.

The Colts also agreed to terms on Sunday to retain offensive left tackle Anthony Castonzo, who will reportedly sign for two years and $33 million, making him the highest-paid left tackle in the league.

So what was once $86.1 million in salary cap space, second-most in the league, is now reduced to $23.09 million, according to spotrac.com.

That means the Colts aren’t expected to be big spenders in free agency anymore. Ballard has made three big salary splashes.