Bills interview Philip Rivers: Former star QB has first known head coaching interview after brief comeback

The Buffalo Bills interviewed Philip Rivers for their vacant head coaching position on Friday, the team announced. It's the first known interview for Rivers, who returned to the field in December for the Indianapolis Colts after five years on the sidelines after quarterback Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending injury. 

Rivers, 44, has been the coach at St. Michael Catholic, a high school in Alabama where his son Gunner is a four-star quarterback recruit in the Class of 2027. After returning to the Colts and throwing for 544 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in three starts, Rivers said he felt like he was ready to take over as a head coach in the NFL if the right opportunity presented itself. 

While his name hadn't emerged through much of the coaching cycle, the Bills becoming a late addition after firing Sean McDermott following their divisional round loss added a new and intriguing team to the list of openings. 

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Shanna McCarriston

A unique wrinkle of the Bills coaching search is star quarterback Josh Allen's involvement, as he is reportedly sitting in on interviews and will have a voice in who the next coach is. That could be to the benefit of Rivers, who can speak to Allen as a former high-level quarterback and will surely present his vision for how to best build a successful offense around Allen's tremendous skill set. 

The expectation is that after firing McDermott, the Bills will be looking for an offensive mind to guide the Allen-led Bills and take the offense to another level. Mike McDaniel, Joe Brady, Brian Daboll, Grant Udinski and other offensive play-callers have been linked to the Bills job, and Rivers fits the bill as an offensive mind. While he lacks experience calling plays at the NFL level, he brings a different level of experience as a long-time quarterback. 

We'll see if that helps him stand out from the other candidates and gets him further along in the process, or if this is simply a matter of the Bills canvassing all the possible options before narrowing their list.