Last Monday night’s game was a sad sight for Philip Rivers fans, as he threw four interceptions in the Chargers’ 24-17 loss to the Chiefs. Retirement rumors have followed Rivers for the last two years, and the 37-year-old quarterback looked like he has all but lost his battle with Father Time.
But then a thought struck me this week: Rivers isn’t the only aging gunslinger who may call it quits after the 2019 season.
It’s quite a list: Tom Brady. Drew Brees. Rivers. And Eli Manning, who has already been benched.
All four have contracts that expire after this season. Repeat: None is signed past 2019.
NFL fans should appreciate the final six weeks of the regular season, because we might be watching the final run for four potential Hall of Famers.
It’s a sobering thought for the NFL. The league has a few exciting young quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyler Murray, but the suits on Park Avenue must be nervous about losing four bankable stars in one fell swoop.
As pointed out by NFL Network, 13 teams scored 17 or fewer points last week. “That position is in trouble,” former NFL MVP Rich Gannon told me a few weeks ago. “The lack of depth of talent there is alarming.”
Brady and his trainer have recently pushed the notion that the quarterback could play until he is 46 or 47. But Brady has also admitted that he is more year-to-year.
“I don’t know what the future holds, and the great part is for me, football at this point is all borrowed time,” Brady told WEEI on Oct. 28.
And the signs that Brady could retire after this season are right there in front of us. When Brady, 42, signed a new contract in August, it didn’t add any extra years to his deal, making him a free agent come March. He put his house up for sale and bought a home in Connecticut. His family, his business pursuits, and his wife’s business pursuits are all tugging him away from the field.
Not to mention, Brady isn’t having a great season — his quarterback rating (90.1) and completion percentage (63.7) are his lowest since 2013, and his QB rating is actually lower than league average (91.5).
Brady’s sour demeanor following several wins this year, including last week in Philadelphia, lends credence to the notion that he could retire after this season. He knows that this is his final run, the theory goes, and he is frustrated that it’s not going well.
Brees, who turns 41 in January, has spoken in ominous tones about his future, for the past two years. In 2018, he told The Athletic that he’ll want to spend more time with his family soon. “The season is a grind. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. To be fully invested in this requires a lot of time and a lot of energy. It obviously requires a lot of time away from the family as well.”
This August, he told Sports Illustrated, “I know it’s not going to last forever so I just want to enjoy the moment while it’s here.” And after his first game back from injury in late October, Brees said, “I’m going to treasure every moment. I’m going to stay in the moment and make the most of it.”
Brees has played a ton of football in his career — 18 seasons as a starter, 283 total games, and 10,569 pass attempts, including playoffs. The thumb injury that forced him to miss five games this season may have been a fluke, but Brees isn’t getting any younger, and injuries start to pop up more frequently.
Brees is also averaging just 259.2 passing yards per game this season, his fewest since 2005, his last season in San Diego. And the Saints have his successor in waiting, with Teddy Bridgewater leading them to a 5-0 record in Brees’s absence. Bridgewater will also be a free agent after this year, and the Saints probably have to elevate him to the starting role to avoid losing him to another team — which means Brees may have to give way after this season.
Rivers, who turns 38 in two weeks, has a lot to ponder this offseason, too. Rivers isn’t playing well this year — his 14 interceptions are second most in the league, and his 85.5 passer rating is his lowest since 2007, his second year as a starter.
And Rivers’s family will be a big part of the equation. He wasn’t thrilled about the Chargers moving to Los Angeles in 2017, and kept his family in San Diego. For the past three years, Rivers has been commuting two hours each way to work every day in a customized SUV that allows him to watch film in the back seat. Rivers has made it work, but he must be getting tired of the commute.
Rivers has offered conflicting statements about his future, saying in 2018 that he doesn’t intend to play into his 40s like Brady and Brees, but also stating that he would like to play in the Chargers’ new LA stadium, which is set to open next year.
The Chargers certainly need Rivers to help sell tickets to their new stadium. But the opening of the new stadium could also be the right time for Rivers to walk away, especially since his heart was broken by the Chargers leaving San Diego. The website BetOnline this past week allowed fans to bet on which scenario will present itself first: Rivers and his wife announcing a 10th child, or Rivers retiring from football.
As for Manning, everyone knows he is probably done after this year.
Quarterbacks who are 39 years old and get benched in Week 3 don’t get signed as starting quarterbacks elsewhere. And it’s hard to envision Manning hanging on as a backup.
So appreciate the final six weeks of the season. Quarterbacks such as Brady, Brees, Rivers, and Manning don’t come around often. For nearly two decades they have thrilled us on Sundays, and this might be the final ride for all four.
LOOKING BACK
What if Patriots drafted Prescott?
A few Patriots-related notes:
■ A fun game of “What if?” this week when looking at Dak Prescott and the 2016 NFL Draft. The Patriots drafted Jacoby Brissett with the 91st pick, and Prescott didn’t go until pick No. 135. He was the eighth quarterback taken in the draft, behind Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, Christian Hackenberg, Brissett, Cody Kessler, and Connor Cook. And every team other than the Eagles is kicking itself right now for whiffing on Prescott’s evaluation.
The Patriots didn’t whiff as badly as the other teams, as Brissett can definitely play. And we wouldn’t have known much about Prescott at this point had he been a Tom Brady backup for four seasons.
But the Patriots wouldn’t have necessarily traded Prescott away, like they did with Brissett. The Patriots didn’t need three quarterbacks in 2017, but trading Brissett to Indianapolis was done in part because the Patriots weren’t thrilled with Brissett’s progress in his one year in New England.
Had they drafted Prescott instead, and had they liked what they saw in him, Prescott would currently be in the last year of his rookie deal for the Patriots, making a league-minimum salary. And the Patriots would have their future starter behind Brady.
Instead, the Patriots have a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future at quarterback.
■ One area that might make Brady cringe is his stats against the blitz. Brady’s 82.9 passer rating against the blitz is the third lowest of his career, and miles away from the 126.7 rating he compiled in 2016 (the year he should have won the MVP, not 2017). Brady has four touchdowns, three interceptions, a 58.5 completion percentage, and has taken five sacks against the blitz this year.
Coincidentally, the only two seasons in which he had a lower passer rating against the blitz came in 2004 (79.5) and 2003 (79.0), two seasons in which Brady won the Super Bowl.
■ Remember offensive tackle Dan Skipper, who looked like he might win a starting job in training camp but then was ultimately relegated to the Patriots’ practice squad? He has made the rounds on the Bill Belichick coaching tree this season.
Bill O’Brien and the Texans plucked Skipper away from the Patriots in October, and kept him for a month before waiving him Nov. 11. Skipper was then claimed off waivers the next day by Matt Patricia and the Lions, and lasted about 10 days in Detroit before being released last week.
FOUR-DOWN TERRITORY
Ricard, Roberts get double duty
It’s not unusual for an NFL team to stick a defensive tackle at fullback on the goal line, or to use a receiver on Hail Mary defense, or include a defensive player in the kneel-down formation.
But two players this year deserve leather helmets for truly playing on both sides of the football.
The Ravens’ Patrick Ricard, a native of Spencer, Mass., who played collegiately at Maine, has truly been an old-school, two-way player. A 6-foot-3-inch, 303-pound defensive tackle and fullback, Ricard has played 199 offensive snaps this year (19.9 per game) and 140 defensive snaps (14 per game). He has seven catches for 45 yards and a touchdown on offense, and a sack, forced fumble, pass defensed, and nine tackles on defense.
“He just works so hard — he’s double-duty at the meetings, he double-duties practice, and he’s been a real factor for us. He’s made a difference for us,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said a few weeks ago.
And Patriots linebacker Elandon Roberts isn’t quite as prolific a two-way player, with 145 defensive snaps and 11 offensive snaps this year. But his role at fullback may be expanding now that the Patriots have lost their top two options to injury. Last week against the Eagles, Roberts played seven offensive snaps, eight defensive snaps, and eight on special teams.
Roberts is the Patriots’ first real two-way player since Julian Edelman in 2011, who played 117 offensive snaps and 91 on defense that season.
CONSPICUOUS ABSENCE
Great coaches didn’t make cut
The NFL is slowly rolling out its NFL 100 all-time teams (of which Bill Belichick was a selector) by first announcing the finalists at each position.
Last week, the NFL released its list of 20 coaching finalists, of which 10 will be chosen for the all-time team. Of course, I have no problem with most of the names — iconic figures such as Bill Walsh, Tom Landry, Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, Curly Lambeau, George Halas, and more. But a few interesting names got left off.
Andy Reid is seventh in all-time wins (202) and has created sustained success with two teams. Marty Schottenheimer is eighth all time in wins (200) and has a sparkling .612 win percentage, but history doesn’t remember him so fondly because he never won a Super Bowl.
Tom Coughlin, who won two Super Bowls and took the expansion Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game in their second season, didn’t make the cut. Nor did Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Mike Shanahan, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Hank Stram, George Allen, Tom Flores, and Don Coryell, who was the first coach to win 100 games in both college and the NFL, and who is the godfather of the modern passing game.
No one is comparing those coaches to the greatest of the greats such as Belichick and Walsh. But how did the committee discard them in favor of Tony Dungy, who is 22nd all time in victories (139), won only one Super Bowl, only was a head coach for 13 seasons, and whose former team won a Super Bowl the year after he left town (Buccaneers)? No offense to Dungy, but it’s hard to see what separates him from the list of snubbed coaches above.
ETC.
Tagovailoa injury has a big impact
The 2020 NFL Draft may have been thrown into flux with the unfortunate hip injury suffered by Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa last Saturday. The injury likely cements LSU quarterback Joe Burrow as the No. 1 pick, and now teams that need a quarterback will have to think twice about using a top pick on Tagovailoa.
Per ESPN, he can’t participate in any athletic activities for three months, and he isn’t expected to start throwing again until the spring, which will make it tough for teams to evaluate Tagovailoa as a prospect and where he is in his rehab.
In fact, the injury may take Tagovailoa out of the draft conversation altogether. As hypothesized last week by Yahoo Sports college football reporter Pete Thamel, Tagovailoa’s best option may be returning to Alabama in 2020 — not to play, but to rehab at the university’s first-rate facilities, and prepare himself for the 2021 NFL Draft.
It’s not a bad thought, and could help reestablish Tagovailoa as a No. 1 pick.
Extra points
The Myles Garrett incident resulted in a rare blowout victory for Roger Goodell, whose office handled the punishment well. Garrett deserved to be taken off the field for the rest of the season, at minimum. And Goodell was absolutely right in making it an indefinite suspension for Garrett, ensuring that Garrett still has to be on his best behavior this offseason before being allowed to play again. Goodell and his office have whiffed a lot, but they got this one right . . . Panthers owner David Tepper deserves credit for keeping the status quo for the last two years and not making major organizational changes, as most new owners do. But changes may be coming quickly in Charlotte, with the Panthers at 5-5 and coming off an embarrassing 29-3 home loss to the Falcons. A big decision looms this offseason on the future of Cam Newton, who could save the Panthers $19.1 million in cash and cap space if he is traded or released. Coach Ron Rivera, now in his ninth season, finds himself on the hot seat with the Panthers on pace to miss the playoffs for the second straight season. And don’t be surprised if Rivera soon benches quarterback Kyle Allen, who has thrown three touchdowns and nine picks in his last four starts, in favor of rookie third-round pick Will Grier . . . Sunday’s Jets-Raiders game comes nearly 51 years to the day (Nov. 17, 1968) of the famous “Heidi” game, when NBC switched to a made-for-TV movie and didn’t air the Raiders’ furious last-minute comeback, when they scored two touchdowns in a dramatic 43-32 win. This game forced TV networks to change their policies to start airing football games to their conclusion, even if they ran long.
Two record-setting paces this year: Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is on pace for 2,521 scrimmage yards, which would break Chris Johnson’s record of 2,509 in 2009; and Saints receiver Michael Thomas is on pace for 150 catches, which would break Marvin Harrison’s record of 143 in 2002.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.