The Indianapolis Colts have dominated the headlines ever since signing Philip Rivers out of retirement. The 44-year-old quarterback will take over for Daniel Jones, who tore his Achilles during Week 14. One former quarterback is worried about how Rivers will transition back into the NFL life.
Former NFL QB Kurt Warner shared some worrisome concerns he has about Rivers' return to the NFL.
“Obviously it’s crazy, just from the standpoint of you think about age, and you think about the time out of the game,” Warner said on Wednesday via Scoop City. “I think the thing that I worry about the least is throwing the football. Because that’s a trait, you know I do a lot of training now and I hardly ever throw throughout the year, and I go and train a lot of guys. When I do that, I out throw all of them. Just because the technique, when you know how to do it, it’s like riding a bike. It comes back to you.”
Warner is more worried about the physical side of Rivers' game. He is not yet in optimal football shape and will be going up against elite athletes.
“Just the physical movement part of it, when you haven’t been doing something that is reactionary and has all this speed and these athletes around you,” Warner continued. “I’m curious how quickly that can come back and of course there’s little nuances to defenses that are different and to be able to get up to speed mentally to see it.”
Ultimately, Warner thinks that Rivers' extended retirement will make it incredibly difficult to succeed in the NFL again. He clearly does not think he would succeed in Rivers' shoes.
“I respect the game too much to think that I could sit out for five years and just come back and pick up where I left off,” Warner concluded.
That means something coming from Warner, who played in the NFL until the age of 38.
Rivers is “preparing” to start in Week 15. However, it remains to be seen if he'll actually be ready to play then.
Either way, it will be fascinating to see how well Rivers plays whenever he makes his debut for the Colts.
Next up for the Colts is a Week 15 matchup against the Seahawks.
