Uchenna Nwosu played with Philip Rivers.
When they played together with the Chargers, Nwosu was at the beginning of his NFL career and Rivers was finishing his.
It is said that his career is coming to an end.
Could the now-Seahawks linebacker imagine Rivers, his former Chargers teammate, agreeing to return to the Colts at age 44 after five years in retirement, leaving behind his 10 children, including his son and the high school team he coached in Alabama, boarding a plane in Indianapolis this weekend and flying to Seattle over Christmas before taking the bench? Not playing the Colts against the Seahawks on Sunday?
advertise
“No,” Nwosu said in the locker room before Wednesday’s practice.
He smiled like he knew an old teammate.
“Absolutely not,” Nuwosu said.
“I expect him to play, yeah. I expect him to play. They didn’t bring him in for no reason.” Yes, the Seahawks are now looking forward to Sunday’s Disney movie against them at Lumen Field (1:25 p.m., CBS, local KIRO-7). Coach Mike Macdonald and his staff are developing game plans for a 44-year-old grandfather, a semifinalist in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 who hasn’t played since the end of the 2020 season and has practiced just three times since retiring, to play against them on Sunday.
advertise
If Rivers plays, his five-year wait from his last game to Hall of Fame eligibility in Canton, Ohio, will reset.
This is unprecedented. And, until this week, that was unheard of. “If anyone can do it, it’s him,” McDonald said Wednesday. “This guy is probably one of the best competitors in the history of the NFL. I’m sure if he didn’t feel like he was ready, he wouldn’t have done it.
“So we’re preparing him just like he’s been playing.”
Philip Rivers #17 of the Indianapolis Colts watches the game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on November 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Colts signed Rivers back to the NFL on December 10, 2025, after five years of retirement, to join their practice squad. (Photo by Weslichter/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, MacDonald scoffed at the bizarre development. He thought about last season, his first as a head coach at any level.
The 37-year-old new coach had just signed Seattle’s new starting center Connor Williams to a high-paying contract, but he quit the sport midway through the season.
advertise
He met with the Seahawks and held practices for November games in darkness at the team’s headquarters as storms in the Pacific Northwest caused power outages for days.
He won 10 games, one of the best debuts by a rookie coach in league history, but the Seahawks failed to make the playoffs.
After all, McDonald found the second season in 2025 to be relatively routine for his 10-3 Seahawks team.
so far.
Seattle’s coach had been looking forward to facing Colts rookie Riley Leonard or possibly journeyman Brett Rypien off the practice squad in his first NFL start since Monday, but instead planned to go up against a legend on Sunday.
advertise
MacDonald smiled and shook his head.
“This is the NFL, man,” he said. “Every week is different.
“Finally, we had some unexpected crazy things happen this year. I think last year, with the power outages, we had something happen every week last year.”
Seahawks think Philip Rivers is playing
There was some doubt that Rivers would be ready for Sunday’s game in four days. Not so with McDonald and the Seahawks.
Their coaches began game planning for Rivers Monday night into Tuesday, when news broke that Rivers was working out in Indianapolis after injuries to starter Daniel Jones, backup Anthony Richardson and Leonard.
advertise
“Shoot it, danggammit,” Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp said, imitating a popular saying by Rivers, an Alabama native.
“Oh my gosh, this is Philip Rivers. His resume speaks for itself.”
The eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback debuted as a rookie with the then-San Diego Chargers in 2024 and last played with the Colts on Jan. 9, 2021, in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs in Buffalo to end the 2020 season. This was the last time the Colts made the playoffs. They are hopeful of returning this season. They are 8-5 and have lost four of their past five games. Rivers either loses Indianapolis’ playoff hopes or fails completely.
advertise
Rivers has been out of the sport longer than most in the league have been in it (the average NFL career is 3.3 years). The 42-year-old father of 10 who became a grandfather is now four years older than his new head coach in Indianapolis. Asked about his reaction when he heard Rivers was back, Seahawks 11-year veteran defensive end Leonard Williams said: “I just thought, ‘This can’t be me.'”
Williams grinned.
“I feel like if I retired that long, it would be hard to come back to the NFL,” he said.
Rivers doesn’t really need to rotate much in coach Sean Steichen’s Colts offense. He played for Steichen and spent six years with the Chargers. Steichen’s first NFL coaching job was as a defensive assistant with the Chargers during the 2011-12 season. From 2014-19, Steichen coached the Chargers offense under Rivers. That includes the 2016-19 seasons, when Steichen was Rivers’ quarterbacks coach and spent most of every football workday with him.
advertise
In 2019, Steichen became Rivers’ offensive coordinator and game director. That was the quarterback’s final season with the Chargers before he played his (alleged) final NFL season with the Colts in 2020.
Asked Wednesday in Indianapolis why he was returning to the Colts now, Rivers told reporters: “It’s as simple as that, a coach that I like, a team that I really enjoy working with. “(Colts owner) Mr. (Jim) Irsay believed in me in 2020, and things didn’t go well in 2019. Fourteen of the guys I played with and shot with are still here. The same goes for the training room. The same goes for PR people. The same goes for the equipment room.
“They wanted me. I tried to keep it simple.”
The Colts wanted Jones after he ruptured his Achilles tendon in Indianapolis’ loss to Jacksonville last weekend. Leonard replaced him and then suffered a knee injury. Steichen said Leonard has been “week in and week out” this week. The Colts’ only quarterback is Rypien, a Spokane native from Shadle Park High School, on the practice squad.
advertise
That’s not to say Rivers has been sitting on the couch away from the sport for the past five years. He’s been throwing passes with the players he coached in high school. That includes his son Gunnar, whom Rivals.com ranks as the No. 2 recruit in the state of Alabama. Rivers is the head coach at St. Michael Catholic School in Fairhope, Alabama. His son’s starting quarterback team just finished the Alabama Class 4A playoffs with a 13-1 record.
In fact, during the high school season that just ended on Nov. 28, Rivers was running back and coaching Steichen’s offense for St. Michael Catholic School. Former NFL star and current CBS television analyst JJ Watt posted the fact online on Tuesday, writing that it included “an interesting fact learned in a production meeting.”
“He and Sean Steichen talk about it every week, discussing plays and even movies,” Watt wrote on X/Twitter on Tuesday. “So there shouldn’t be any issues getting familiar with the program.”
Mike McDonald’s mission
All of these reasons and more are why McDonald laid out the Seahawks defensive game plan for Rivers on Sunday, rather than Leonard or Rypien.
advertise
“Yeah, we expect him to play,” McDonald said. “We have to be ready for Riley and Brett. But … yeah.” McDonald began this week talking about the unpredictability of preparing for a rookie quarterback, whom Seattle’s defense has faced and beaten twice in the last three games, Tennessee’s Cam Ward and Minnesota’s Max Brosmer. He said Monday there isn’t much game tape on Brosmer, who made his first NFL start in Seattle while throwing four interceptions and four sacks in a 26-0 loss.
What’s unpredictable about preparing to defend a 44-year-old man who hasn’t played in five years?
NASHVILLE, TN – NOVEMBER 12: Philip Rivers #17 of the Indianapolis Colts talks to teammates on the sideline during the first half against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on November 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederic Breeden/Getty Images)
“Yeah, it’s tricky,” McDonald said Wednesday. “You know me: Do you overthink it? I mean, you go back and look at some of the things he did before he retired. You’re obviously going to give up on a lot of the things they did this year (with Jones).
advertise
“At the end of the day we have to go play football. We have to make sure we’re in our zone, we’re ahead of the game and play our style of football.”
The News Tribune asked McDonald if he was watching film from the Class 4A Alabama high school football game at St. Michael’s Catholic, which Rivers had just coached, to a 13-1 season in Steichen’s Colts offense.
The Seahawks coach shook his head. He smiled.
“No,” McDonald said. “No.”