Former Wolfpack NFL Star Retires as a Los Angeles Charger

"It's very meaningful for us because of how important of a player he has been -- and still is -- for this franchise and all that he accomplished while he was here," team president John Spanos told Chargers.com. "It's about all he did for the team, both on and off the field, how he represented himself, how he competed, the drive he had to succeed and the success that we had when he was here."

The Chargers did not draft Rivers. They actually drafted Eli Manning. They acquired Rivers in a 2004 draft-day trade that sent Manning, to the New York Giants. Manning went on to win two Super Bowls with the Giants and retired after the 2019 season. He was not voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last winter, in his initial ballot.

Rivers spent his first two years with the Chargers backing up Drew Brees before taking over as the starter when Brees left in free agency to join the New Orleans Saints. Over the course of the next 15 years, Rivers never missed another game, starting all 252, including the playoffs.

"Thankful for those 16 years, entrusting me to be the quarterback and certainly never took it for granted," Rivers said.

Rivers said he had a lot of fun playing for the Chargers. He also said he might have used some words in trash-talking he might regret, but there was no profanity.

"There are some clips that I look at and just shake my head, and then some. I go, dang. That was a lot of fun," Rivers said. "Yeah. Is there an edginess to it? Are you trying to get under the skin of the opponent? Of course. Some of it is just a lot of fun. Again, it's in the backyard."