Philip Rivers may no longer wear powder blue, but he's rooting hard for his former team.
And that includes the man who succeeded him at that quarterback position.
Rivers recently offered high praise for the Chargers and quarterback Justin Herbert, noting he is big fans of both the team and the player.
"They got that one right," Rivers said of the Bolts first-round pick of Herbert in 2020.
Rivers later expanded on his fandom:
"I pull like crazy for the Chargers and I pull for Justin Herbert in particular, just because I think it's awesome that I was able to be there for 16 years, hopefully he can be there for another 16," Rivers told Crain & Company. "I always thought it's cool you look at the Packers, you can say, 'Who's been their quarterback the last 40 years? [Brett] Favre and [Aaron] Rodgers.' You don't want it to go the Browns' version, with 30 starters in the last 25 years. With Herbert, it was time for me to be done there, and then they nailed that pick."
Herbert, of course, is off to a blazing start to his NFL career.
He ranks first in passing yards (9,350) and touchdown passes (69) among quarterbacks through the first two seasons in the league.
And while there has been a decent amount of roster turnover since Rivers played his last season with the Chargers in 2019, he does still keep up with a few guys he knows well.
"Keenan Allen is there, Ekeler is there, Derwin James … there's still a handful of guys that I played with," Rivers said. "It makes you want to pull for those guys. They're definitely going to have a shot [at a deep playoff run]."
Rivers' comments came in Alabama, where he was recently inducted into the Reese's Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.
He starred at North Carolina State before the Chargers took him fourth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft. Herbert was the No. 6 overall pick in 2020.
As for his favorite memory with the Bolts, Rivers listed a few, but the first one he mentioned was a thrilling one-point win at Arrowhead Stadium in his second-to-last season with the Chargers.
"Most recently, we beat the Chiefs in 2018 on Thursday night," Rivers said. "Back-shoulder fade to Mike Williams, there, we went for two with five seconds left. That one stands out."
Rivers is the Chargers all-time leader in passing yards (59,271), touchdown passes (397), attempts (7,591), completions (4,908) and QB wins (123).
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