As the Indianapolis Colts continue preparing as best as they can for the 2020 season, the hope from the organization is that the addition of veteran quarterback Philip Rivers will bring them back into the playoff picture after missing out in 2019.
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Rivers will be joining the Colts after spending his entire 16-year career with the Chargers. The impact will be felt from Day 1, but what type of impact might that be? As ESPN’s panel experts discussed the offseason, the topic of dark horse MVP candidates came up.
Mina Kimes believes Rivers should be in that conversation as a dark horse MVP candidate while leading Frank Reich’s offense:
Sure, he struggled quite a bit last season … but I’m in the camp that believes his issues were largely the product of circumstances (poor protection, game situation). Rivers actually finished eighth overall in the NFL Next Gen Stats’ completion percentage above expectation rankings, and now he gets to play behind a significantly better line with terrific coaches and solid weapons.
Rivers was also named plenty of times in the category of biggest impactful addition this offseason.
Will Rivers be in the conversation for MVP? Probably not. Even if a bounce-back season is in store for the 38-year-old (and I believe it is), the Colts are likely to have a more balanced approach than he’s used to seeing.
That said, the Colts should be contending for the top spot in the AFC South with the Texans and Titans. If Rivers does have a strong year—something like 2018—he will likely rise in the conversation of MVP talks.
Regardless, the Colts are hoping the addition of Rivers will get the passing game back to being an efficient unit with the threat of making plays downfield, which is what they didn’t have in 2019.
Time will tell which Rivers the Colts will get in 2020, and it will be interesting to see if a bounce-back season brings him into the MVP conversation.
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