The Colts will be starting rookie Riley Leonard at quarterback against the Texans in Week 18 and they’ll have a new backup in uniform for the game as well.
The team announced that they have elevated Seth Henigan from the practice squad to the active roster for the season finale. Henigan signed with the team earlier this week.
Henigan has never appeared in a regular season game. He signed with the Jaguars after going undrafted this year and opened the season on their practice squad.
Philip Rivers remains on the roster and will serve as the emergency third quarterback after starting the last three games for the Colts. The Colts lost those games and were eliminated from playoff contention over that span.
The Colts also announced that they have elevated tight end Sean McKeon from the practice squad.
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The Texans ruled out cornerback Kamari Lassiter (knee/ankle) for Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Colts.
The Texans need a win and a Jaguars’ loss to the Titans to clinch the AFC South title.
Lassiter has played through an ankle issue but injured his knee in last week’s win over the Chargers. He still played 56 of 63 defensive snaps.
The Pro Bowl alternate has four interceptions, 17 pass breakups and 91 tackles.
The Texans also ruled out linebacker Jamal Hill (calf).
They list offensive tackle Trent Brown (ankle/knee), cornerback Ajani Carter (hamstring) and defensive end Darrell Taylor (ankle) as questionable.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (knee/shoulder), defensive end Denico Autry (knee) and cornerback Derek Stingley (oblique) have no injury designation.
As it turns out, the Colts will not have one of their top defensive players when they play their season finale on Sunday.
Indianapolis has ruled out cornerback Sauce Gardner for Week 18, head coach Shane Steichen told reporters on Friday.
Gardner returned to play Indianapolis’ loss to Jacksonville in Week 17, and was on the field for 51 percent of the defensive snaps. After experiencing some tightness in the calf, Gardner was held out for the rest of the contest. He had previously been out since suffering his calf injury in the Nov. 30 loss to the Texans.
The Colts traded for Gardner on Nov. 4. He started four games for the club this season, recording 16 total tackles with three passes defensed.
Additionally, Indianapolis has ruled out tight end Will Mallory (lung) for Week 18.
Center Tanor Bortolini has cleared concussion protocol.
The Giants fired Brian Daboll on Nov. 10 after the club started 2-8, leaving Daboll with a 20-40-1 record.
Now as the 2025 regular season comes to its conclusion, New York’s coaching search is starting to take shape with the club casting a wide net.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN reports the Giants’ list of candidates includes former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, former Raiders head coach and former Giants player Antonio Pierce, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
While owners John Mara and Steve Tisch will make the final decision on the next coach, the search is being led by General Manager Joe Schoen.
Schoen’s presence is not expected to hamper candidates’ interest in the job, Raanan notes.
Raanan also lists interim head coach Mike Kafka, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Vikings QBs coach Josh McCown, and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski as potential candidates for the job.
As for current head coaches, Raanan lists the entire slate in the AFC North — Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, and Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor — as candidates, with Stefanski as “a name to watch” who could attract “serious interest” should he be fired.
The Giants can interview candidates who are not currently with teams now, including McCarthy and Pierce.
Philip Rivers came out of retirement to quarterback the Colts this season, but he says there’s no chance of that happening again.
Rivers says he is definitely done playing and will be coaching his sons’ high school team in 2026.
“I’ve got a son that will be a senior,” Rivers told Kay Adams. “It’ll be his senior year and I’m looking forward to it. My second son will be a ninth grader so they’ll be on the same team together, so it’ll be fun to get back.”
Rivers said the unique circumstances surrounding Colts coach Shane Steichen calling him for a late-season run will never be repeated.
“There’s no chance,” Rivers said. “It was a place I’d been, a team I was familiar with, the offense was exactly the same, a coach I knew, it was all those things, our football season was over, all those things made it the perfect storm.”
Rivers insists he’ll be coaching, not playing, going forward.
“I’m back to the sideline,” Rivers said. “This was a fun three-week blur that nobody saw coming, including myself. And that’ll be it.”
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson will not be activated from injured reserve for the team’s Week 18 game, which means his third NFL season will end with him on injured reserve due to an orbital fracture he suffered in October.
Richardson had appeared in two games as a reserve before that injury, but neither the missed time nor losing a preseason competition with Daniel Jones for the starting job has dimmed Richardson’s confidence in his capabilities.
“Oh, yeah,” Richardson said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com. “No doubt. If I’ve still got a chance to play football, then it’s all out there.”
It’s fair to wonder if that future will be in Indianapolis. If the Colts re-sign Jones this offseason, they’ll likely plan for him to start once he’s cleared to return from a torn Achilles and Richardson will be in the last year of his contract with a team that has clearly moved in a different direction. A trade could be a possibility, but he also missed most of his rookie season with a shoulder injury and his limited on-field work has not done much to make him look like the franchise quarterback the Colts hoped to get at the top of the 2023 draft.
Head coach Shane Steichen has confirmed what was previously reported.
Via multiple reporters, Steichen said in his Wednesday press conference that Riley Leonard will start at quarterback for the Colts on Sunday against the Texans, ending a surprising, remarkable run from 44-year-old QB Philip Rivers.
It will be Leonard’s first start of his rookie campaign. Leonard has appeared in four games this year, completing 18-of-33 passes for 145 yards with two interceptions.
Steichen noted Rivers will stick around this week, though Seth Henigan is likely to be Indianapolis’ backup QB.
Additionally, Anthony Richardson will not be activated off of injured reserve, with Steichen noting that Richardson still has vision limitations after suffering an orbital fracture midseason. Richardson has been back at practice recently, but is not ready for game action.
After starting Philip Rivers at quarterback for three games, the Colts are reportedly turning to rookie Riley Leonard to start the last game of the season against the Texans on Sunday.
The move does not come as a surprise, as Indianapolis was eliminated from postseason contention with the results of Week 17.
Rivers got to know Leonard before the 44-year-old grandfather came out of retirement, as Leonard previously trained with Rivers during two offseasons. With Leonard starting in Week 18 a predictable development, Rivers was asked about Leonard during his postgame press conference on Sunday.
“Riley is a pro,” Rivers said. “Riley is going to work at it hard, and obviously I don’t want to put a ceiling on anything that he can do, and certainly will always continue to pull for him.
“But I said before he ever got drafted, or even early on when he was at Notre Dame, when I got to be with him and some of his guys, I was like, ‘He’s going to be a double-digit guy in the NFL.’ To what extent that is, who knows, right? Is he a starter? He’s one of those guys that is talented enough throwing it, and he’s obviously athletic enough to run around and he’s going to work at it because he cares enough about it that he’s going to be around somewhere for a long time.”
Leonard, a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, has appeared in four games so far as a rookie. He’s completed 18-of-33 passes for 145 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Philip Rivers’ run with the Colts has come to an end.
According to a report from ESPN, rookie Riley Leonard will start at quarterback for Indianapolis in the team’s season finale against Houston on Sunday.
Rivers, 44, started the last three games for the Colts after surprisingly coming out of retirement. But the Colts have gone 0-3 in that span and were officially eliminated from the postseason with the Texans’ victory over the Chargers on Saturday.
In his three starts, Rivers completed 63 percent of his passes for 544 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Leonard, a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft out of Notre Dame, has appeared in four games this year, completing 18-of-33 passes for 145 yards with two interceptions.
Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is still on injured reserve as he recovers from an orbital fracture suffered midway through the season in a pregame accident.
The Texans clinched a playoff berth in Week 17, but they remain in play for the AFC South title. Thus, coach DeMeco Ryans said he has no plans to rest his starters for the regular-season finale against the Colts on Sunday.
“We still have an opportunity to win our division,” Ryans said Monday, via Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle. “That’s always the goal each and every year — to win the division. We know we need help from the Titans to be able to do that, so we’re going and playing our guys.”
The Texans need the Titans to beat the Jaguars, which, considering Tennessee’s 3-13 record, seems unlikely. But stranger things have happened, so the Texans aren’t conceding the division.
Houston has won the past two AFC South titles.
The Texans currently sit as the No. 5 seed, which would send Houston to the AFC North winner (Pittsburgh or Baltimore) in the wild-card round.
Cornerbacks Kamari Lassiter (knee and foot) and Derek Stingley Jr. (oblique) and offensive tackles Aireontae Ersery (thumb) and Trent Brown (ankle/knee) are banged up. But Ryans said if they are healthy enough, they will play.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud will start.
