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Colts might have forced Rivers retirement


Wyld Stallyns

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No link, but you can listen to a podcast Kevin’s Corner Episode 266

Kevin Bowen of Indianapolis radio station 1070 The Fan and former Colts.com writer suggests the Colts decided to move on from Rivers before his retirement and that his decision to retire was more because the return to the Colts option was off the table.

His proof, Colts Asst GM Ed Dodds interviewed for the Lions GM job before Rivers retirement. It is now known that Stafford had talked to Lions management in January about wanting a trade. So if that was presented to Dodds and he brought that information back to the Colts organization then Bowen suggests the Colts realized that Stafford would be available and decided to move on from Rivers.

After allegedly telling him this, Ballard does his year end presser and tells the media that they were going to give themselves and Rivers a month to make a decision on what they were going to do for 2021 and one week later Rivers announced his retirement.

If true and the Colts fail to get Stafford this would be a real problem. Hopefully doesn’t mean they force themselves on Darnold.

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14 minutes ago, Tk3 said:

Interesting - but I feel like that's a very misleading tag line

It was a 1 year contract. They can choose to not bring him back. That isn't "forcing him to retire" which has an inherently negative connotation

Rivers was only going to return to play for the Colts. His post career plan to coach his son in high school gave him leeway to play in 2021 because his son is currently in 7th grade. And many in the Indy media suggested at the time of signing that the one year deal was really a wink/nod to a two year deal. Their decision to move on left him to decide to retire or start over again in another city.

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10 minutes ago, Wyld Stallyns said:

Rivers was only going to return to play for the Colts. His post career plan to coach his son in high school gave him leeway to play in 2021 because his son is currently in 7th grade. And many in the Indy media suggested at the time of signing that the one year deal was really a wink/nod to a two year deal. Their decision to move on left him to decide to retire or start over again in another city.

That still isn’t “forcing” him to retire. He chose to retire because his first choice wasn’t available.

There is no such thing as a “wink/nod” guaranteeing you 2 years on a 1-year contract, Rivers has been in the NFL long enough to know this. 

 

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49 minutes ago, Wyld Stallyns said:

No link, but you can listen to a podcast Kevin’s Corner Episode 266

Kevin Bowen of Indianapolis radio station 1070 The Fan and former Colts.com writer suggests the Colts decided to move on from Rivers before his retirement and that his decision to retire was more because the return to the Colts option was off the table.

His proof, Colts Asst GM Ed Dodds interviewed for the Lions GM job before Rivers retirement. It is now known that Stafford had talked to Lions management in January about wanting a trade. So if that was presented to Dodds and he brought that information back to the Colts organization then Bowen suggests the Colts realized that Stafford would be available and decided to move on from Rivers.

After allegedly telling him this, Ballard does his year end presser and tells the media that they were going to give themselves and Rivers a month to make a decision on what they were going to do for 2021 and one week later Rivers announced his retirement.

If true and the Colts fail to get Stafford this would be a real problem. Hopefully doesn’t mean they force themselves on Darnold.

Hard to blame the Colts for this strategy if this is the case. Stafford would make too much sense for them. I’d be very curious to see how he does there. I rate Stafford a lot like Tannehill and Carr, a good but not great QB. I’ve seen a lot of people call him “elite” the last couple years though, and have suggested he’s been held back by the Lions. This would be a great landing spot for him to prove that.

Either way, adding Stafford has the potential to return the Colts to where they would’ve been had Luck not abruptly retired. Gotta shoot your shot on that.

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45 minutes ago, Wyld Stallyns said:

Whether I say ‘forced his decision’ or ‘forced his retirement’ I still have ‘might have’ in the title. Semantics aside does anyone have any thoughts on the topic? 

Not really. Other than that they had better have a solid idea they are getting Stafford if they weren't going to bring him back. They have a good team and you can do a lot worse than Rivers at QB for another year.

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Rivers was not good enough.

He came up small in the playoffs yet again. (stats were fine but yet another playoff game where he was down 14+ in the 4th)

  • Rivers was down by 14+ in the 4th in 4 of his last 8 playoff games.
    • At the time he had led his team to 10, 7 ,14, and 10 points through 3+ quarters.

That Fail Mary at the end was an embarrassment.

He is not going to get better next year.

Nothing to see here.

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