LATIMES.COM/SPORTS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020D5
NFL
deal that included Eli Man-
ning.
Owner Dean Spanos
called Rivers “the heart and
soul of our organization” in a
statement. He also praised
the veteran quarterback for
his ability to connect with
fans.
“There’s only one Philip
Rivers, and we’ve been fortu-
nate to call him our QB1 for
the better part of two dec-
ades,” Spanos said. “We can-
not thank Philip enough for
giving it his all on every sin-
gle down and for the memo-
ries he created that will last a
lifetime.”
Rivers was the backup to
Drew Brees during his first
two seasons. After Brees left
for New Orleans via free
agency in March 2006, Rivers
took over as the starter.
He held the job for all of
the Chargers’ 224 regular-
season and 11 playoff games
since and is the franchise
leader in more than 30 cate-
gories, including yards pass-
ing and touchdowns.
“I never took for granted
the opportunity to lead this
team out on to the field for
235 games,” Rivers said after
his time with the Chargers
ended. “We had a lot of great
moments, beginning in San
Diego and then finishing in
L.A. I wish my teammates
and coaches nothing but the
best moving forward.”Times staff writer Sam
Farmer contributed to this
report.Philip Rivers will contin-
ue his NFL career with the
Indianapolis Colts.
In a move that had been
anticipated for weeks, the
former Charger agreed
Tuesday to a one-year, $25-
million contract, according
to a person not authorized to
speak publicly about the ne-
gotiation.
Rivers reunites with
Colts coach Frank Reich
and offensive coordinator
Nick Sirianni, both of whom
used to coach with the Char-
gers.
The quarterback will re-
place Jacoby Brissett, who
took over as the starter in In-
dianapolis last season after
the unexpected retirement
for Andrew Luck. Brissett
struggled as the Colts, after
a 5-2 start, lost seven of their
final nine games.
Rivers, 38, spent 16 sea-
sons with the Chargers and
made 235 consecutive
starts.
The team announced in
February that the sides were
parting ways, ending a rela-
tionship that began April 24,
2004, when the Chargers ac-
quired Rivers from the New
York Giants in a draft-dayRivers agrees to deal
with Indianapolis
Former Chargers
quarterback is joining
the Colts for one year
and $25 million.
By Jeff MillerJets to an upset over Balti-
more in Super Bowl III in
January 1969.
But injuries — Namath
added a sore hamstring to
his bad knees — took a toll.
Namath never threw anoth-
er pass after he was knocked
out of that Bears game and
retired after the season.
“Joe was the director on
the field and we abided by
his orders, but we had a lim-
ited offense because he
couldn’t scramble at all,”
Harrah said. “His mobility
was very limited.”
Montana’s career, in
which he passed for 35,124
yards and 244 touchdowns
and led San Francisco to
four Super Bowl wins from
1979 to 1990, appeared to be
on life support when he
missed all but one game of
the 1990 and 1991 seasons be-
cause of an elbow injury.Dennis Harrah had a lot
more fun as Joe Namath’s
wingman in the nightclubs
of Long Beach than the for-
mer Rams offensive lineman
did trying to block for the
broken-down quarterback
in 1977.
“I lived next to Joe in Bel-
mont Shore, and we used to
go to Bobby McGee’s,” said
Harrah, an All-Pro guard
who played from 1975 to 1987
in Los Angeles. “I would go
just to be around the girls
who wanted to be around
Joe. That was one of the
highlights of my career.”
Protecting Namath on
the field was more of a chore.
Namath was 34 with balky
knees when the Rams
signed the 12-year veteran in
1977, hoping the former New
York Jets star would give
young quarterbacks Pat
Haden and Vince Ferrag-
amo room to grow.
The experiment lasted all
of four games, Namath com-
pleting 50 of 107 passes for
606 yards with three touch-
downs and five intercep-
tions before he was benched
in favor of Haden in Week 5.
Namath’s Hall of Fame
career ended on a cold,
windy and rainy October
Monday night in Chicago,
where he took a beating
while completing 16 of 40
passes for 203 yards and four
interceptions, with a fifth
pick nullified by a penalty.
Namath was sacked
twice and knocked out of the
game in the fourth quarter
by Bears linebacker Way-
mond Bryant, who delivered
a punishing blow with which
Harrah, then a third-year
pro, took exception.
“The guy absolutely bur-
ied Joe,” said Harrah, now 67
and living in Paso Robles,
Calif. “I got in a fight with
him and punched him in the
stomach. I got ejected — it
was the only time I was ever
kicked out of a game — and
fined $500 because I was try-
ing to defend Joe Namath.”
The Tampa Bay Bucca-
neers, who agreed to a deal
with Tom Brady on Tuesday,
can only hope that the ca-
reer of the former New Eng-
land star, who led the Patri-
ots to six Super Bowl cham-
pionships in 20 years and will
be 43 in August, doesn’t end
like Namath’s.
The track record for ag-
ing Hall of Fame quarter-
backs who leave the teams
they starred for at the end of
their careers is mixed.
Of the 26 modern-era
quarterbacks in the Pro
Football Hall of Fame, only
four — Johnny Unitas, Na-
math, Joe Montana and
Brett Favre — played at least
12 years for their main team
before finishing their careers
elsewhere.
Montana and Favrepenned relatively happy
endings to their storybook
careers compared with
Unitas and Namath, who
could barely limp across the
finish line.
Unitas was 40 when he
was traded from Baltimore
— where he amassed 39,768
yards passing and 287 touch-
downs in 17 seasons (1956-
1972), led the Colts to NFL
championships in 1958 and
1959 and started in their Su-
per Bowl V victory — to San
Diego before the 1973 season.
The Chargers hoped the
legendary Unitas would pro-
vide a one-year bridge be-
tween departed veteran
John Hadl and Dan Fouts,
the team’s third-round pick
out of Oregon that year.
Unitas’ creaky legs were
not up to the task. In a sea-
son-opening 38-0 loss to the
Washington Redskins,Unitas completed six of 17
passes for 55 yards with
three interceptions, and he
was sacked eight times.
The next two games pro-
vided hope, Unitas complet-
ing 25 of 49 passes for 390
yards with three touch-
downs and two intercep-
tions in a 34-7 win over Buf-
falo and a 20-13 loss to Cin-
cinnati.
But a nearly immobile
Unitas was benched after
completing two of nine
passes for 19 yards with two
interceptions in a Week 4
loss to Pittsburgh. He threw
one more pass that season
before retiring.
The Rams signed Na-
math thinking he would revi-
talize his career after a 12-
season run in New York
(1965-1976), in which he
passed for 27,057 yards and
170 touchdowns and led theWith Steve Young ready
to take over as quarterback,
the 49ers traded Montana,
then 37, to Kansas City be-
fore the 1993 season.
Montana had plenty left
in the tank, completing 480
of 791 passes for 5,427 yards
with 29 touchdowns and 16
interceptions in 25 starts in
1993 and 1994.
He led the Chiefs to
come-from-behind wins
over Pittsburgh and the
Houston Oilers in the 1993
playoffs before an AFC
championship-game loss to
Buffalo. Montana led Kan-
sas City to a 9-7 record in
1994, including a 24-17 win
over Young and the 49ers,
but the Chiefs lost in the first
round of the playoffs.
Favre’s 16-year career
with Green Bay, where he
passed for 61,655 yards and
442 touchdowns, won three
most valuable player awards
and one Super Bowl in two
appearances, seemed to end
with the 39-year-old an-
nouncing his retirement in
March 2008.
Five months later, Favre
filed for reinstatement and
was traded to the New York
Jets, the Packers having
handed the offense to Aaron
Rodgers. Favre completed
343 of 522 passes for 3,472
yards with 22 touchdowns
and 22 interceptions to lead
the Jets to a 9-7 record in
2008.
Favre signed with Minne-
sota the following summer
and completed 580 of 889
passes for 6,711 yards with 44
touchdowns and 26 inter-
ceptions in two seasons with
the Vikings.
Minnesota went 12-4 in
2009 and advanced to the
NFC title game, where the
Vikings lost to the eventual
Super Bowl-champion New
Orleans Saints. Minnesota
slipped to 6-10 in 2010, and
Favre retired for good after
the season.
He was 41 — two years
younger than Brady will be
in the 2020 season.New chapters don’t always end well
Track record mixed for aging Hall of Fame quarterbacks who play for another team at end of their careers
JOE NAMATH, left, lasted as starter over Pat Haden (11) and Vince Ferragamo for only four games in 1977.David F. SmithAssociated PressBy Mike DiGiovanna
The day the Chargers
made a significant addition
to their offense instead will
be remembered as the day
they didn’tadd Tom Brady.
By agreeing to a three-
year, $30-million deal with
Bryan Bulaga, the team
took a clear step up at tackle.
But the Chargers, just a
short time later, learned
they were out of the running
for Brady, the veteran
quarterback and six-time
Super Bowl winner who will
sign with Tampa Bay.
So the search for Philip
Rivers’ successor contin-
ues. Rivers has started the
last 235 games the franchise
has played, starting in 2006.
He and the Chargers mutu-
ally decided to part ways last
month.
On Tuesday, Rivers
agreed to a one-year, $25-
million deal with
Indianapolis.
The Chargers for now
have veteran Tyrod Taylor
as their starter, with Easton
Stick, a fifth-round draft
pick a year ago, also on the
roster.
Taylor, 30, backed up Riv-
ers last season but started
for three years in Buffalo and
has been publicly endorsed
by coach Anthony Lynnand
general manger Tom Tele-
sco.
With Brady heading to
Florida, the Chargers are left
to consider other potential
candidates.
That group grew by one
significant name Tuesday
when Carolina announced
that Cam Newton had been
granted permission to seek a
trade. Two other veterans —
Andy Dalton and Nick Foles
— also are known to be avail-
able.
The Chargers could stick
with Taylor and draft a
quarterback they believe
might be their long-term so-
lution at the position. They
have the No. 6 overall pick, a
spot where Justin Herbert
of Oregon and Jordan Love
of Utah State figure to be op-
tions.
Though it likely would re-
quire moving up in the draft
order — a price Telesco
might be reluctant to pay —
the Chargers could target
Tua Tagovailoaof Alabama.
Newton, who turns 31 this
spring, continues to rehabil-
itate from a foot surgery he
underwent in December. He
appeared in only two games
last season.
Adding Newton for any
team could be complicated
given the travel restrictions
in place because of the co-
ronavirus pandemic. Any
deal would be contingent on
him first passing all neces-
sary medical tests.
Newton was the NFL
most valuable player in the
2015 season when he led the
Panthers to the Super Bowl,
a 24-10 loss to Denver. Car-
olina has been to the playoffs
only once since and lost in
the NFC wild-card round.
Along with missing 14
games last season because
of his Lisfranc injury, New-
ton was out for the final two
games in 2018 after hurting
his shoulder, another injury
that required surgery.
His departure from the
Panthers turned thorny
Tuesday. After the team an-
nounced it had granted him
permission to find a trade
partner, Newton explained
on social media that it was
Carolina’s decision for him
to move on.
“Stop with the word
play,” he wrote. “I never
asked for it. ... Please do not
try and play me or manipu-
late the narrative and act
like I wanted this. You forced
me into this.”
Whoever plays quarter-
back for the Chargers in
2020, he will be doing so be-
hind a rebuilt offensive line,
including Bulaga, a starter
at right tackle for nine sea-
sons in Green Bay.
He will bolster an offen-sive front that was inconsis-
tent in 2019. Those struggles
helped lead to a turnover-
filled season for Rivers.
Telesco began the over-
haul two weeks ago by trad-
ing with Carolina for five-
time Pro Bowl right guard
Trai Turner, giving up
starting left tackle Russell
Okung.
The Chargers also are
hoping center Mike
Pouncey, a four-time Pro
Bowl selection, will be able
to return after having neck
surgery that ended his 2019
season after five games.
Sam Tevi started 14
games at right tackle last
year in his third NFL season.
He was a sixth-round draft
pick in 2017. Trent Scott, a
former undrafted free agent
out of Grambling State,
started the other two games
when Tevi was out with aknee injury.
Bulaga, who turns 31 on
Saturday, has started 111 of
115 career games. He missed
all of the 2013 season after
suffering a knee injury. He
started all 16 games for the
Packers last season, match-
ing a career best also
achieved in 2016.
Bulaga will be reunited
with James Campen, a for-
mer longtime Packers as-
sistant the Chargers hired
this offseason to be their of-
fensive line coach.
The Chargers did suffer a
blow on offense and, particu-
larly, special teams Tuesday
when free-agent fullback
Derek Watt agreed to sign
with Pittsburgh. A sixth-
round pick in 2016, Watt led
the Chargers in special-
teams tackles with 16 last
season. He also scored his
first career touchdown on aone-yard run against Jack-
sonville in December.
Watt’s performance
earned Pro Bowl recognition
as he was named a first alter-
nate on special teams and
second alternate at fullback.
With the Steelers, he will
join his younger brother,
T.J., who is an All-Pro out-
side linebacker.
Also Tuesday, former
Chargers linebacker Thom-
as Davis agreed to a deal
with Washington. Davis,
who led the Chargers in
tackles last season, was re-
leased last week in a move to
open salary cap space.Etc.
The Chargers placed a
second-round tender on re-stricted free-agent corner-
back Michael Davis and ex-
clusive-rights tenders on
Scott and defensive end
Isaac Rochell.
Davis started all 12 games
in which he appeared last
season, finishing with 39
tackles and two intercep-
tions. Initially signed as an
undrafted free agent out of
Brigham Young, Davis is en-
tering his fourth season.
Rochell was a seventh-
round pick in the 2017 draft.
He has appeared in 35 games
with three starts.
In his two NFL seasons,
Scott has played in 25 games
with 10 starts, nine of which
came last year as the Char-
gers were thinned by injury
up front.CHARGERS REPORT
Offensive tackle
Bulaga reaches
three-year deal
By Jeff Miller
BRYAN BULAGA, a pillar with the Packers, will get
a three-year, $30-million contract with the Chargers.Morry GashAssociated Press