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.
Colts Clips
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.
The Texans activated wide receiver Justin Watson from injured reserve on Monday, the team announced.
Watson went on injured reserve Sept. 17 after injuring a calf muscle/Achilles’ tendon in the Week 2 loss to the Buccaneers. He returned to practice Dec. 10.
Watson, a former fifth-round pick of the Bucs, has three catches for 30 yards on four targets in two games.
The team waived defensive lineman Solomon Byrd in a corresponding move.
Byrd signed to the active roster from the practice squad on Dec. 3, but he has not played in a regular-season game this season. His only action came in 2024 when he played 20 defensive snaps and one special teams snap in one game.
The Colts have added another quarterback to the organization ahead of Week 18.
The team announced the signing of Seth Henigan to their practice squad. Henigan spent the offseason with the Jaguars after going undrafted out of Memphis. He was cut at the end of August and spent a month on Jacksonville’s practice squad.
Henigan’s addition could be a sign that the Colts do not plan to play Philip Rivers in their final game of the regular season. Rivers came out of retirement earlier this month as the Colts scrambled to try to stay alive in the playoff race, but they were officially eliminated over the weekend and Rivers spoke about possibly sitting out the finale after Sunday’s loss to the Jags.
Riley Leonard is the other quarterback on the 53-man roster in Indianapolis. Anthony Richardson has been designated for return from injured reserve, but the team has given no indication that they plan to activate him.
The Colts started the 2025 season 7-1, getting to 8-2 with an overseas victory over the Falcons before their Week 11 bye.
But since that win in Berlin, it’s been nothing but Ls — starting with the overtime loss to the Chiefs on Nov. 23 and the latest coming by the hands of the Jaguars on Sunday to put Indianapolis’ record at 8-8.
Quarterback Daniel Jones’ season-ending Achilles tear certainly did not help matters. But the fact that the Colts were eliminated from postseason contention before their Week 17 matchup with the Jaguars even kicked off is a source of disappointment for a club that started off as hot as one could be.
After Sunday’s 23-17 loss to the Jaguars, running back Jonathan Taylor was asked if the 2025 Colts were a good team that ran out of gas, or a team that just wasn’t good enough.
“Obviously, when you lose five, six in a row, you start looking like, hey, OK, we have to be better,” Taylor said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN. “The good teams don’t lose five, six in a row. But, you look and you’re fighting, you’re fighting. And, like I said, it’s a silver lining — it’s hard to win in this league and it’s a small margin of error. So, regardless of penalties and things like that, you just think about actual plays — making a play, making a catch, getting a first down.
“It’s those one or two, three or four plays that those great teams, they make. They find a way, whether it’s that guard just straining a little bit more, getting that extra block. Or the back just throwing somebody off of them. Or the receiver stretching out — like you [saw] with Josh Downs today. Just making great plays, I think that’s the difference.”
Taylor had been making plenty of those plays early in the season. But while Taylor still leads the league in rushing touchdowns (18) and total touchdowns (20), he hasn’t rushed for at least 100 yards since the overtime victory over Atlanta on Nov. 9.
We’ll see if the Colts can play spoiler in Week 18 with a season-ending win over the Texans.
Philip Rivers made the third start of his improbable comeback to the NFL on Sunday and it may have been the final one even though the Colts have one game left this season.
The Colts were eliminated from playoff contention when the Texans beat the Chargers on Saturday, but Rivers still got the start because he took all the first-team reps at quarterback in practice leading into Indy’s game against the Jaguars. The Colts could opt to go with rookie Riley Leonard — or Anthony Richardson, if he’s activated from injured reserve — in Week 18 and Rivers said after Sunday’s loss that he’s “gonna be on board to do what’s best for the guys.”
“If it’s the last one, it’s the last one,” Rivers said, via the team’s website. “I thought the last one was walking off the field in Buffalo [in January 2021]. We’re walking up that tunnel and I was fine with it. And that one had tears, and those few days after it — and I was at peace with that being the last one. So certainly, if it is, I got three bonus games that I never saw coming and couldn’t be more thankful that I got the opportunity.”
Rivers was 17-of-30 for 147 yards, a touchdown and an interception on Sunday. He was 41-of-62 for 397 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in his first two starts, but the Colts lost all three games to become the sixth team since the AFL-NFL merger to miss the playoffs after a 7-1 start to a season.
The Jaguars moved a step closer to winning the AFC South, holding off the Colts 23-17 on Sunday afternoon.
The Jaguars have won seven in a row to move to 12-4, while Indianapolis, which was eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday, fell to 8-8 after a 7-1 start.
If the Jaguars beat the Titans next week, they win the division title. The Texans will win it with a win over the Colts, combined with a Jacksonville loss.
The Jacksonville defense held the Colts to 204 yards, including only 135 yards passing, and totaled two sacks and two turnovers. Antonio Johnson’s interception in the end zone on a final-play Hail Mary throw from Riley Leonard sealed it.
The Jaguars kept the Colts in it with two red-zone turnovers in the first half. Jakobi Meyers lost a fumble after the Jaguars reached the Indianapolis 17, and Germaine Pratt intercepted Trevor Lawrence in the end zone after the Jaguars reached the Indianapolis 16.
The Jaguars scored a touchdown and three field goals in the second half after trailing 10-7 at halftime and 17-14 late in the third quarter. They finished with 370 yards.
Lawrence ran for touchdowns of 4 and 6 yards and went 23-of-37 for 263 yards and an interception, with Parker Washington catching eight for 115. Travis Etienne had 17 carries for 76 yards.
Philip Rivers was 17-of-30 for 147 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and Jonathan Taylor had 21 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown.
The Panthers added rookie Tetairoa McMillan to their injury report with an illness on Sunday morning, but they won’t have to go without their top wide receiver against the Seahawks.
McMillan is active for their home game against the NFC West frontrunners. The first-round pick has 65 catches for 924 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season.
The Panthers will win the NFC South on Sunday with a win and a Buccaneers loss to the Dolphins. If they don’t get that combination of results, the two teams will okay for the division crown in Week 18.
Seahawks at Panthers
Seahawks: WR Hunter Renfrow, S Demani Richardson, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, TE James Mitchell, DT Tershawn Wharton
Panthers: QB Jalen Milroe, CB Coby Bryant, LB Jared Ivey, T Charles Cross, G Bryce Cabledue, OL Mason Richman, DL Brandon Pili
Steelers at Browns
Steelers: QB Will Howard, WR Calvin Austin, RB Kaleb Johnson, CB Brandin Echols, CB James Pierre, G Isaac Seumalo, EDGE T.J. Watt, DL Logan Lee
Browns: OL Jeremiah Byers, QB Dillon Gabriel, OL Kendrick Green, CB Myles Harden, DL Sam Kamara, TE David Njoku, WR Jamari Thrash
Patriots at Jets
Patriots: QB Tommy DeVito, WR Kayshon Boutte, OT Marcus Bryant, G Jared Wilson, NT Khyiris Tonga, LB Robert Spillane, LB Harold Landry
Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, OL Marquis Hayes, WR Quentin Skinner, TE Mason Taylor, DL Mazi Smith, S Chris Smith
Saints at Titans
Saints: S Ugo Amadi, WR Mason Tipton, CB Rejzohn Wright, RB Alvin Kamara, G Cesar Ruiz, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DT Bryan Bresee
Titans: S Jerrick Reed, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, OL Garrett Dellinger, OL Drew Moss, DL Cam Horsley
Jaguars at Colts
Jaguars: CB Keith Taylor, RB Bhayshul Tuten, G Patrick Mekari, C Robert Hainsey, TE Hunter Long, DL Danny Striggow, DT Maason Smith
Colts: C Tanor Bortolini, RB Tyler Goodson, S Reuben Lowery, S George Odum, OL Dalton Tucker, DL JT Tuimoloau
Buccaneers at Dolphins
Buccaneers: QB Connor Bazelak, WR Sterling Shepard, S Rashad Wisdom, LB John Bullock, OT Tristan Wirfs, EDGE Anthony Nelson
Dolphins: QB Tua Tagovailoa, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, OL Kendall Lamm, C Aaron Brewer, LB Derrick McClendon
Cardinals at Bengals
Cardinals: S Budda Baker, OL Evan Brown, TE Pharaoh Brown, CB Kei’Trel Clark, K Joshua Karty, CB Kalen King, DL PJ Mustipher
Bengals: QB Jake Browning, WR Charlie Jones, CB Josh Newton, S PJ Jules, DE Joseph Ossai, TE Cam Grandy, DT Jordan Jefferson
The Jaguars added a starting offensive lineman to their injury report on Sunday morning.
Right tackle Anton Harrison is now listed as questionable to play against the Colts. Harrison is dealing with an illness.
Harrison has started all 13 games he has played this season and he’s started all 46 games he’s played since the Jaguars made him a first-round pick in 2023.
The Jaguars ruled out right guard Patrick Mekari on Friday’s injury report and center Robert Hainsey is listed as questionable to play with a groin injury, so they may have to do a lot of shuffling up front ahead of Sunday’s kickoff. Walker Little, Chuma Edoga, Wyatt Milum, and Jonah Monheim are bench options on the offensive line.
