The 2025 NFL season will go down in the history books as one of the strangest seasons ever. Throwing more gas on that fire involves former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers re-entering the league after being retired for nearly five seasons to join the Colts' practice squad.
This story is bizarre enough on its own. After all, Rivers is 44 years old and hasn't played a snap in the NFL since the 2020 season when he was with the Colts. It gets loopier, though, when you take into account that if Rivers is activated to the Colts active roster this season, he will no longer be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2026.
The rules are that a player must be retired for five years to be eligible to make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. By Rivers finishing his career (or so we thought) in 2020, he's now been away for nearly five years and was on the list of semifinalists to be voted into the 2026 class.
If Rivers, who officially signed with Indy's practice squad on Tuesday, gets elevated off the practice squad this season, he's not only ineligible to make it into the Hall of Fame next year but his entire Hall of Fame waiting period would reset. Therefore, he would not be eligible to make it in as a first ballot Hall of Famer until at least 2031, according to a Pro Football Hall of Fame spokesperson.
Philip Rivers' Hall of Fame eligibility should matter to Chargers fans
This would mean that Rivers would see both Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, both members of the 2004 quarterback draft class, go into the Hall of Fame before him. Sure, both of those guys have Super Bowl wins but it'd still be frustrating to see that happen, especially knowing Rivers wouldn't get in for at least another half decade.
We also have to assume that this is Aaron Rodgers' final year in the league (though who knows with him?) and if that's the case, he and Rivers would both be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2031. Rodgers would undoubtedly overshadow Rivers if that ended up being the case.
Another agitating wrinkle here is that Rivers will be directly competing with the Chargers, his team of 16 years, for a playoff spot. The Colts are 8-5 (and spiraling quickly now that Daniel Jones is out for the year) and the Chargers are 9-4 but it's still a bit ironic that the guy who retired a Charger this summer is now actively competing against them and could keep them out of the playoffs if things break Indy's way down the stretch.
Some might find this whole Rivers returning to the NFL story comical, and on some level it certainly is, but for Chargers fans it's more annoying than anything. He's tanking his Hall of Fame eligibility to play for a Colts team destined for a second-half collapse and he's also possibly hurting his old team in the process. It's hard to understand this move, that's for sure.