4 quarterbacks the Vikings can pursue as Kirk Cousins insurance

Rivers spent the 2020 season with the Colts, and retired after the season to move into a high school coaching job in Alabama. In an interesting bit of timing after Carson Wentz went down, Rivers said this week he has not ruled out a comeback.

“I’m just going to stay ready. I want to make sure I’m very clear: I’m not predicting I will play in December or January, for that matter. One, you’ve got to have somebody who wants you, and two, it’s got to be right.

“But I have not completely ruled that out.”

Rivers pointed to an in-season idea of a comeback, should a team have a need and call him. In regard to being ready right now if someone called, he said he isn’t quite there.

“I’m not quite there,” Rivers said of his conditioning to the Los Angeles Times. “I’m getting back there. I wouldn’t have made weight if I had to report last week, that’s for sure. But I am getting back into the lifting and running, and shoot, I occasionally throw a ball around out here in this heat. It’s not too hard to get a good lather going.”

Last season with the Colts, Rivers did not put up huge numbers. But he appeared to have something left (4,169 yards, 68 percent completion rate, 24 touchdowns, 11 interceptions). His decision to retire was not because he couldn’t be effective anymore, or he couldn’t stay healthy as he extended his consecutive start streak (regular season) to 240.

The Vikings have struggled to protect Cousins, and that would be an easy to see issue if Rivers were brought in and had to play. Rivers’ interest in being brought in as a contingency plan before Week 1, with no guarantee he’d see the field, is also probably nil. But there is a chance the Vikings make a call to Rivers, if only to put him on their list of Cousins’ insurance options should they need one.