Former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers is rumored to have offered his services to at least two teams ahead of the playoffs last season.
According to Rich Eisen, who claims to have heard some very juicy gossip at the NFL Scouting Combine last week, the retired signal-caller contacted both the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers to let them know he could be available should they need him.
Eisen discussed five rumors stemming from the Combine during his podcast on Monday, with the Rivers bit popping up at No. 5.
“We all know two teams that were quarterback-needy at the end of the season,” he said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Starting third-stringers and had a chance to go to the playoffs and maybe make a deep run in the playoffs. I’m referring to the Miami Dolphins and of course the San Francisco 49ers. I heard, at the combine, that Philip Rivers contacted both of them to come back late last year.”
“Philip Rivers contacted both of them, is what I heard, and that’s the way I heard it,” he noted after being asked to clarify who reached out to who. “Didn’t happen. Don’t know why it didn’t happen.”
Eisen stressed that the above was hearsay and he could not speak to the veracity of the claims. But that Rivers would reach out to these teams does make sense as they were both in need of a QB heading into the postseason.
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The Dolphins lost Tua Tagovailoa to the league’s concussion protocol after suffering a second serious head injury and could have probably won a playoff game with Rivers in their backfield as they came pretty close to beating the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round.
As for the Niners, they would have probably taken Rivers up on his offer had it not been for Brock Purdy’s emergence.
Rivers, 41, played 17 seasons in the NFL and had a pretty solid career, making the Pro Bowl eight times. He was the league’s passing yards leader in 2010, as well as the Comeback Player of the Year and completion percentage leader in 2013.
