With Mike Tomlin off the board, Philip Rivers is the next man up for NFL media partners looking for new TV talent.
The 44-year-old former quarterback is emerging as the next hot NFL TV free agent, sources tell Front Office Sports.
The Alabama-born folksy personality has been compared to the late, great “Dandy” Don Meredith. He checks all the boxes that networks and streamers look for in their NFL game and studio analysts.
Rivers is fresh off the field again after returning from a five-year retirement to play for the Colts last season. Indianapolis went 0–3 with the eight-time Pro Bowl selection as its starter. But the miraculous comeback of Rivers—who became a grandfather in 2024—reintroduced the former star to a new generation of football fans.
Quarterbacks are always in demand as analysts by the league’s media partners. Few could sling it better than Rivers, who ranks No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, in all-time yardage (63,984) and TD passes (425) among NFL QBs. That’s better on both counts than two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning, who was famously traded for Rivers and multiple draft picks at the 2004 NFL Draft.
Rivers, who’s represented by CAA, could have multiple opportunities. CBS Sports has an open QB chair on the set of The NFL Today thanks to Matt Ryan’s departure to the Falcons front office. Ditto for Fox Sports’s iconic Fox NFL Sunday pregame show with the retirement of Jimmy Johnson, and NBC’s Football Night in America following Chris Simms’s exit. And then there are the streamers. Earlier this month, FOS’s Ryan Glasspiegel reported that YouTube and the NFL have entered a contract review for a five-game package.
Does Rivers want a second career in media? We’ll see. During an interview with Kay Adams on Up & Adams in January, he certainly left the door open to a future in broadcasting.
“I’ve not ruled it out. But just every opportunity that’s been close to coming, or has come up, it just hasn’t felt right,” he told Adams. “So I haven’t completely ruled it out. I do think I would enjoy it.”
Would Rivers want to call games or provide once-a-week studio analysis? That’s a good question. The big money is in calling games where former QBs like Tom Brady of Fox ($37.5 million), Troy Aikman of ESPN ($18 million), and Tony Romo of CBS ($18 million) now make more in the broadcast booth than they did on the field.
On the other hand, Rivers and his wife, Tiffany, have 10 children. So a once-a-week job as a studio analyst would make more sense than traveling half the week for games. YouTube’s five-game package might be the perfect compromise for a rookie broadcaster with time constraints.
Since his initial retirement from the NFL in 2021, Rivers has become a successful coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama and has been talked up as a possible NFL head coach by NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. He was under consideration to become the next Bills coach before he withdrew from the search earlier this year.
As for Tomlin, NBC introduced the Super Bowl–winning former Steelers coach as its new star analyst during its NBA playoffs coverage Sunday night. He’ll succeed Tony Dungy, who was let go by NBC after 17 seasons on the Football Night in America pregame show.
“When Mike Tomlin talks, people listen. He’s one of the most iconic and respected coaches and voices in the NFL,” said Sam Flood, NBC’s executive producer and president of production, in a statement. “We’re excited that this Super Bowl–winning coach is coming straight from the sideline to Football Night in America.”
