Philip Rivers interviewing for Bills coaching job after brief NFL return: report

Buffalo Bills

Philip Rivers interviewing for Bills coaching job after brief NFL return: report

Rivers returned after last playing in the 2020 season

Ryan Morik Fox News

Published

January 23, 2026 1:44pm EST

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It does not seem like Philip Rivers wants to stay away from professional football.

Just as he became a Hall of Fame semifinalist, Rivers pushed back his eligibility for Canton to return to the NFL after nearly five years away, playing three games for the Indianapolis Colts this past season.

But now, in his second retirement stint, Rivers is reportedly interviewing for the vacant Buffalo Bills coaching job.

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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers stands on the sidelines during the first half against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

The Bills fired Sean McDermott on Monday, two days after a controversial loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional round. Owner Terry Pegula said the loss resulted in McDermott's firing.

Rivers is currently the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama. He announced his official retirement just before the new year.

"I am (done)," Rivers said at the time. "I got a son who will be a senior, and I got that St. Michael football team ready to go. We got beat in the semifinals two years in a row," he added. "So, it’ll be his senior year. My second son will be a ninth grader. They’ll be on the same team together.

"So, it’ll be fun to get back with the boys back home. The school has been really excited. A lot of them came to the game last week. It’ll be fun. It’ll kick-start our offseason program, to say the least. Maybe the things I say to them they’ll take it a little more seriously now that I was just out there playing."

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) passes against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

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Rivers returned amid an injury to Daniel Jones, while Anthony Richardson was also not healthy.

"Everything just lined up," he said. "It was a place I’d been, a team I was familiar with the offense was exactly the same. The coach I knew. It was all those things that made it kinda the perfect storm.

"I’m back to the sideline. This was a fun three-week blur that nobody saw coming, including myself, and that will be it."

He sure is back to the sideline, but perhaps it will be an NFL one.

Rivers had 544 passing yards, four touchdown passes and three interceptions in those three starts. He co his NFL playing career with 63,984 passing yards and 425 passing touchdowns.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers throws during the first half of an NFL game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Dec. 28, 2025. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

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The Bills' defeat marked another crushing blow to McDermott’s tenure as the Bills’ head coach. McDermott took the job before the start of the 2017 season, and Buffalo finished under .500 only once since then. He helped guide the Bills to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons. The team made the conference title game twice but never got back to the Super Bowl.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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Philip Rivers interviewing for Bills coaching job after brief NFL return: report