Philip Rivers is calling it quits after 17 NFL seasons.

Here’s the message he sent to ESPN, shared via Adam Schefter:

We thought this might be happening, a Rivers retirement. That, combined with Frank Reich’s presence in Indy, is why the Colts are the primary destination in every story you read about Carson Wentz trade rumors.

The Colts’ QB depth chart now looks like this:

  1. Jacob Eason

Rivers’ 2020 backup, Jacoby Brissett, is 29 years old and just became a free agent, so they could bring him back on a new deal if they wanted to. Eason was a 4th round pick in this past draft and is only 23, so they’ll see what he has in camp when it starts up in the summer. Indy is going into this next season with $67 million in cap space, so everything on paper would make sense for a Wentz trade. Carson would likely have to make financial concessions to facilitate a move, because even if the Birds do this, they’d still eat a significant cap hit.

Jeremy Fowler at ESPN wrote about this recently:

A trade would be costly, too, with the Eagles owing $33.8 million in dead cap to spread over two years if Wentz is dealt before the third day of the league year. His yearly cap hit would be off the books in that case, but that’s still a lot of money to absorb without much return. Trading Wentz in 2022 would be more manageable, with his cap hit dropping to $24.5 million.

Wentz could always rework his deal to facilitate a trade if he wants a new start. In fact, Foles just did that this offseason to get to Chicago. The Bears reworked the $56.9 million remaining from his Jacksonville Jaguars deal into a three-year, $24 million pact with $21 million guaranteed.

We’ll see. Based on some of the rumors we’ve heard following Doug Pederson’s firing, it seems like Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman like Carson and want the new coach to fix him, but stranger things have happened. Don’t rule anything out.