The Indianapolis Colts knew early in the offseason that Philip Rivers was likely going to be their biggest target when it came to free agency even if he’s coming off of a year with elevated interception numbers.
Leaving the Los Angeles Chargers for the Colts this offseason, Rivers is coming off of a 2019 campaign that saw him boast 20 interceptions and a 3.4% interception rate—both of which were tied for the second-highest of his career.
When evaluating him as a potential signee, Reich understands the bloated interception totals cannot stand.
“Absolutely, I mean that’s unacceptable and he knows that. I mean we’ve all seen the stats,” Reich told reporters Monday. “I mean we understand you’ve got to put them in perspective – 20 (interceptions) is never good under any circumstance.”
Rivers did struggle with interceptions in 2019. Some were his fault. Some not so much. But the aggressive mindset that the Colts are buying into is likely going to have some consequences when it comes to interceptions.
Rivers has long been a quarterback looking to throw downfield. The tape shows it, and the numbers show it. Rivers had 5,025 intended air yards in 2019, good for the third-most in the NFL. His average depth of target of 8.5 yards was the 12th-highest in the league.
The Colts will be featuring the West Coast style offense again with Rivers under center now, but the transition to the offense shouldn’t be a difficult one. This is especially true when Reich said Rivers already knows the majority of the offense coming in.
But Reich also understands that Rivers’ desire to look downfield will wind up benefitting the Colts offense as well.
“As long as he thinks he has a chance to win he is throwing the ball down the field. And when other quarterbacks might be taking check downs, he is trying to make chunk plays and the result of that is he throws a few more interceptions,” Reich said. “So that will be a goal – there is no doubt that we want to greatly reduce that number. He knows the responsibility from his position and we just think we will have the right team around him to get that number down to where it needs to be.”
The Colts offense will look interesting with Rivers under center and while there will be more interceptions on the way, there are likely to be more chunk plays as well.