Why Tom Brady Is ‘Excited’ About Philip Rivers’s NFL Comeback With Colts

Kristen Wong | 12 Hours Ago

Tom Brady spoke candidly about seeing veteran quarterback Philip Rivers make an NFL comeback with the Colts. / Screengrab on Twitter/ @TheHerd

Move over, Tom Brady. There's another 40-plus quarterback who's coming out of retirement this season, and his name is Philip Rivers.

In the most unlikely of NFL comebacks, Rivers seems to have a good shot at being named the Colts' starting quarterback in Sunday's matchup against the Seahawks just days after he officially signed with the team on the practice squad. The 44-year-old hasn't played in the league for five years, is currently a grandfather and is older than 13 current NFL head coaches including Colts coach Shane Steichen.

His advanced age aside, Rivers apparently impressed the Colts in his workout, and the team appears to be preparing him for his first start as soon as this weekend.

Ahead of Rivers's highly anticipated return, Brady discussed his candid thoughts on seeing Rivers come out of retirement to help the Colts, who recently lost former starter Daniel Jones to a season-ending Achilles injury.

To kick things off, Brady couldn't resist cracking a joke about retirement, taking a playful jab at both Rivers and himself: “Who retires and then un-retires and then is ultimately going to retire again? Who does that? That’s ridiculous for Philip to do that,” the Patriots legend told Colin Cowherd.

The Fox analyst then laid out some sweet praise for the former retiree.

“I'm very excited to watch Philip play," Brady said. “If he’s out there, it’s just very cool. It speaks to how much he loves the game and really what he’s able to do still.”

Why would Philip Rivers come out of retirement? The G.O.A.T can relate 🐐 @colincowherd @TomBrady pic.twitter.com/NBMoS5rrx4

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) December 11, 2025

“This game is about, for the quarterback, from the neck up,” continued Brady. “We used to have a saying in Michigan, the mental is to the physical as four is to one at the quarterback position. And that doesn't really go away. That's still up there. Do you have the physical ability to still do it, take the hits, make the throws, the drops, buy a little time in the pocket? If Philip has been practicing those things, then we're all going to see it on full display in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.”

Brady also clarified that since he's a minority owner of the Raiders, he couldn't come out of retirement even if he wanted to give it another shot, but he did confidently say he could lead a team on successful scoring drives if he knew enough about the offense.

Rivers only played with the Colts for one year in his final NFL season back in 2020, yet he has worked with Steichen in the past during their joint time on the Chargers. As for learning the playbook? CBS analyst JJ Watt noted Rivers has been running the same offense as the Colts for one of his son's high school football teams this season.

Half a decade ago, Rivers claimed he wouldn't play into his twilight years like Brady did. He's now looking at what could be his first start on Sunday, and Brady, for one, couldn't be more pumped up about it.

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