The Indianapolis Colts brought Philip Rivers out of retirement to play quarterback in four regular season football games at 44 years old.
With one down and three to go, Rivers will have a lot of work to do to get Indy into the playoffs and get any more action.
One interesting aspect of this is the financial side of it. Rivers has made $244 million in his NFL career. What's he getting now?
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio revealed that it's a much smaller number.
For four games, Florio writes, Rivers will get $278,889.
That's the prorated amount of the one-year veteran minimum, which for a whole season would be $1.255 million.
There's a health insurance benefit for Rivers, too.
"As many have pointed out since Rivers returned, it also restores his league-provided health insurance, which otherwise would have expired five years after his last game," Florio adds. "If he retires again after the 2025 season, the five-year clock will reset. Obviously, Rivers isn’t risking his health for free health insurance. With $244 million in earnings (it’s a lot less than that after taxes), he can easily afford to pay for his own health insurance. Besides, the Colts didn’t do it to get him free health insurance for five more years; the Colts needed a quarterback for the stretch run."
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Rivers was passable in his first start, a tough loss in a loud road environment in Seattle. He led the Colts to a go-ahead field goal late before the Seahawks got a buzzer-beating kick of their own.
The Colts are back at it in Week 16 on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers.
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