The NFL coaching carousel is spinning faster than ever, and the latest name to surface is sending shockwaves through the sports world: Philip Rivers. While the legendary quarterback has been content coaching high school football in Alabama since his retirement, rumors are swirling that professional organizations are looking at him as a serious candidate for a head coaching position. In a recent, high-energy episode of The Coach JB Show with Big Smitty, host Coach JB and guest AJ McCarron dove deep into whether Rivers—or any quarterback of his caliber—is truly ready for such a massive leap.
The central question of the discussion was whether a player can transition from the playing field to an NFL head coaching role without any prior professional coaching experience. While traditionalists might scoff at the idea, AJ McCarron, a veteran quarterback himself, offered a perspective that challenges the status quo. According to McCarron, the quarterback position is essentially a “coach on the field,” providing a unique training ground that other positions simply don’t offer.
“I think that there’s one position when it comes to coaching that has a step above everybody else that has no experience,” McCarron argued. “It’s the quarterback level. Brother, you’re a coach on the field while you’re playing.” He went on to detail the intense mental load a quarterback carries—knowing when to take timeouts, pushing the tempo, identifying defensive coverages like “cloud” or “quarters,” and making real-time adjustments to offensive concepts like switching to a “bunch” formation.
This “field general” mentality, McCarron suggests, translates directly to game management. To illustrate his point, he compared the situational awareness of a quarterback to that of a defensive star, even bringing up the legendary Deion Sanders. While acknowledging Sanders is a “hell of a recruiter” and coach, McCarron pointed out that “Coach Prime” has faced criticism regarding clock management—a skill he believes quarterbacks develop more naturally because they are the ones constantly watching the clock and calling the plays.
However, the path to an NFL sideline isn’t just about X’s and O’s. Coach JB raised a critical concern: “Do you think these guys can just get out of bed and do it and manage the whole thing… without having to actually create a script or a schedule or manage a staff?” Managing a locker room of 53 professional athletes and a massive coaching staff is a different beast entirely from leading a high school team.
Despite the rumors, McCarron expressed doubt that Rivers would leave his current post just yet. The reason isn’t a lack of interest, but a commitment to family. Rivers’ son has one year left of high school football, and McCarron believes Philip is determined to see that through. “I don’t see Philip leaving because of his son… I think he wants to coach his son,” he noted, reminding fans that for Rivers, the “Dad” title often outweighs the “Coach” title.
The conversation didn’t stop with Rivers. The panel shifted their focus to the current state of the Cincinnati Bengals and the news that Zac Taylor will return as head coach. This sparked a fiery critique of the Bengals’ organizational structure. McCarron, who spent years in the Cincinnati locker room, didn’t hold back on the “mom and pop” nature of the Brown family’s ownership.
“Where Cincinnati has to grow as an organization is from a scouting department,” McCarron stated. “They have one of the smallest, if not the smallest scouting departments in all of the NFL.” He argued that the team’s refusal to “widen the horizon” and hire more scouts they trust has led to a string of draft picks that haven’t panned out, ultimately wasting the prime years of star quarterback Joe Burrow. The panel agreed that while Zac Taylor provides stability for Burrow, the lack of investment in the front office could be the team’s undoing.
As the NFL offseason looms, the Philip Rivers rumors serve as a fascinating case study in how the league views leadership. Is the “quarterback brain” enough to bypass years of climbing the coaching ladder? While McCarron and Coach JB may disagree on the specifics, they both agree that the game is changing. Whether it’s the potential hire of a legend like Rivers or the internal struggles of a franchise like the Bengals, the decisions made in the coming weeks will shape the landscape of the league for years to come. For now, the world waits to see if a legendary #17 will trade his high school whistle for an NFL headset.