Just one day after being offered the role, Philip Rivers walked into his Buffalo Bills head coaching interview in a golf shirt, khakis, boots, and a notebook in hand. Four hours later, he walked out having experienced an interview unlike anything he had gone through during his playing career.
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Last season, when the Indianapolis Colts lost quarterback Daniel Jones to injury, Rivers stepped up to fill the void. The veteran QB unretired to make his NFL comeback after spending four years coaching at St. Michael Catholic High School. Even though he ended his 2025 stint with a 0-3 record, the Buffalo Bills still included Rivers in their wide-open search, interviewing him to potentially lead Josh Allen and the team.
For Rivers, unretiring to play and then stepping straight into a head coaching candidate role for the upcoming season was a whirlwind experience, but his approach to the interview was simple.
“The thing I kept telling myself was, be yourself. They called me not to come in there and try to act like somebody else,” Rivers revealed on the Move the Sticks podcast on Thursday. “They called me to come in there and be myself.”
Rivers recalled entering a large boardroom where Bills ownership, general manager Brandon Beane, assistant general manager, and Allen were waiting. The setup initially appeared to include the usual technology for a lengthy presentation, but Rivers had a different approach.
“I remember sitting down, and- I was under the TV, big boardroom. It’s somewhat intimidating. It’s like ownership, GM, assistant GM, Josh Allen’s in there. He was obviously in every interview, Brandon Beane.
“They said, ‘Hey, do you have any audio video stuff you need to hook up for the interview?’” Rivers said. “I laid my notebook down. I said, ‘It’s all right here, guys.’”
The former quarterback leaned heavily on his experience as a player who had spent 17 whole seasons around NFL head coaches and coaching staffs. He explained that his pitch centered on knowing what he did not know and surrounding himself with people who had experience in those areas.
“The thing I hung my hat on was I had been an extension of the head coach for 17 years,” Rivers said. “I said over and over, I have to surround myself with guys that have done it and a staff that knows what some of the ins and outs are about. I said, if y’all want to go to the first team meeting, I’m ready right now.”
“So those types of things I felt confident in and could really relate to Josh, from a player’s perspective. But we went at it for, you know, all of a sudden I looked up, and he [Josh Allen] was like, ‘Hey, we got to get you back on this plane.’ And I was like, It’s one o’clock. I sit down at nine, four hours flies by when you’re in that type of environment, but super thankful to those guys just for the opportunity. And again, where it was going to end up, it may end up right where it did.”
Rivers also had something most coaching candidates could not offer the Bills. He already had a relationship with Allen.
The two quarterbacks have remained close, with Rivers serving as a mentor to Allen during his career. Allen previously praised Rivers when he returned to the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts in 2025, calling him “one of the greatest to ever play the game” and saying he was rooting for him.
Buffalo ultimately chose to promote Joe Brady from offensive coordinator to head coach after Sean McDermott’s firing. Rivers ultimately turned down the job because he wasn’t fully ready to move his wife and ten kids for what would likely be a decade-long commitment.
The Bills have opened the 2026 season 3-0 under Brady, giving Rivers another reason to feel comfortable with how the process ended.
“Super thankful to those guys just for the opportunity,” Rivers said. “It seems like it’s in great hands with Coach Brady and what they’ve got going.”
Had Rivers accepted the Bills’ head coaching job, he would have made history as only the second person since 1950 to play in the NFL one season and become an NFL head coach the very next. Instead, he chose to step away, leaving Joe Brady to take the reins in Buffalo.