Andrew Luck retiring from the NFL

[PinaMadness]

Shocked by this news.

[PinaMadness]

Shocked by this news.

[PinaMadness]

Shocked by this news.

[OnTheBlack]

Shocked by this news.

 

 

C'mon....seriously?

[pitchleague]

Not really shocked that it’s happening, but the timing of it does surprise me. I would have thought he’d have it done in the off-season.

 

Best of luck to him!

[OnTheBlack]

This is amazing. I have a feeling he's gonna be coming back after another year off, but just an amazing talent you thought would lead the Colts to another 15 year run like Peyton and suddenly in his prime, he's done.

 

And now the Colts will draft Trevor Lawrence next year so they can go from picking Elway-Peyton-Luck-Lawrence. Every "next greatest prospect" that comes around!

[OnTheBlack]

Not really shocked that it’s happening, but the timing of it does surprise me. I would have thought he’d have it done in the off-season.

 

Best of luck to him!

 

 

You're not shocked by this? Well, you're THE ONE person who's not!

 

 

If he was still dealing with the shoulder injury and they still had him throwing rubber footballs I'd be with you, but he came back, he played at an All Pro level last year. This year he's ready to go, excited, best talent around him he's ever had, the Colts are legitimately one of the favorites...he suffers a calf injury that keeps him out 3-4 months and he goes from talking about being confident he'll be ready to go week 1 to "I'm done" in his prime!

 

 

I'm worried that they found something more serious going on. The reason they were unable to diagnose such a relatively basic injury and that's why he's retiring. I also have to believe he'll play again in the NFL.

[DHonks]

with pro sports now being a 12-month job, I would expect more players to retire early. They never have a break. In Luck's case, he's been watching from the sideline a lot, and he's been rehabbing. He hasn't had time to just relax

[JimH5]

The best decision he could ever make. I hope more guys get out before the physical and brain damage ruin their lives.

 

Colts fans were booing him as he left the field. That's heartless after he suffered such serious injuries while providing them entertainment.

[MrTPlush]

Another guy valuing his health over money. A beautiful sight.

[GAME05]

Same here, I could never blame a guy for leaving a sport which does such tremendous damage to your body. He just got married and has a kid due soon, so I wonder if all of a sudden his future health started mattering a lot more now that he'll have two people relying on him. And even though this current injury wasn't supposed to be a particularly bad one, I can only imagine the sort of mental toll it does to you to be injured pretty much all the time.

[brooks_quichenick]

Watching Colts fans boo him walking off the field was pretty depressing. Good for him making the decision he feels is best for his health.

[lcbj68c]

Bye!

[owbc]

It seemed to come out of nowhere but clearly he tried to play this year and wasn’t feeling it. And with the threat of CTE and $100 million in his pocket there is plenty of incentive to get out.

 

The fans...whatever, frustration in the moment I’m sure. The untimely exit just further proves that football legacy was the last thing on Luck’s mind. Good for him.

 

Makes you wonder if it will be a one-off or if other QBs will hightail it out of the NFL after a couple years with a decent salary. Very different situation here than past early retirements...

[RollieTime]

Shocked that he would retire so young. Crazy that such a talented player would retire so early. He has had a lot of injuries in his career, but I never thought they would lead him into retirement. Colts fans should not of booed him off the field once they found out he was going to retire. The man worked his tail off every day for that organization and was a class act from day one. Best of luck to him in the future!

[OnTheBlack]

with pro sports now being a 12-month job, I would expect more players to retire early. They never have a break. In Luck's case, he's been watching from the sideline a lot, and he's been rehabbing. He hasn't had time to just relax

 

 

It's been decades now that Pro sports has been a 12 month job. You've got players playing into their 40's now like Brady, Favre, Brees, Vinateri is 47. And you've got just a few Badgers now like Boreland, Moffit who've retired for health concerns and because they just weren't loving the sport.

 

One tried to come back, one has stayed retired. And this has been going on for a long time. Three of the greatest ever have retired in their primes, Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson. All for varying reasons.

 

I think in order to be that good, to play a sport like football at the highest level, of course you want to get paid, but you also have to love it. The guys that don't love playing get weeded out. The Albert Haynesworth types. He was easily a HOF talent, but he got paid and he stopped performing.

 

I personally think Luck will be back, but even if he's not, I don't think there's going to be a fundamental shift in players careers. I think there's already been a shift in how parents allowing their children to play, but not so much in athletes just saying, "I've made enough and I'm done." It'd be better for most if they did.

 

I'm not even convinced Luck is actually done. I think he's gonna sit a year, maybe two, but he's too young and talented to not come back. He sits out a season, he's feeling good, the Colts are talented, just missing a QB and I don't think he'll be able to stay away. But I thought the same about Barry. So...who knows.

[nodakfan17]

And RG3 is still playing. I guess that debate is finally settled (sarcasm).

 

How many Fantasy Football waiver claims will there be on Jacoby Brissett today? I feel bad for the folks who drafted Luck as their QB1.

 

I don’t blame Luck for walking away. I know the injury situation for him must be extremely frustrating. Had he won a Super Bowl, his legacy probably would have been the ‘guy who reached the highest level and quit while he was ahead.’ Now I fear he’ll just be viewed as the guy who quit.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Belichick will talk him out of retirement in 2-3 years and they'll enjoy sticking it to the Colts once again.

[nodakfan17]

Belichick will talk him out of retirement in 2-3 years and they'll enjoy sticking it to the Colts once again.

That thought also crossed my mind.

 

By that time, the Colts will probably have made a big financial commitment to another QB and won’t be able to resume paying Luck’s salary.

[LouisEly]

I believe Luck has already collected the $12M roster bonus for this season and with the signing bonus allocation counts $18.4M against the Colts' cap this year. Not sure how I feel about that, but that could be grounds to be booed by fans.

 

Luck's contract was through 2020, so after that I believe he is free to sign with another team. Right in time for Brady to retire. I don't even want to think about that.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It isn't far fetched at all. I don't buy that he's done. He is 29. 18 months off and his body will feel good. I do not believe he won't get the itch before turning 35. It's happened before, but I'm skeptical here. It would be SUCH a Patriot thing.

[owbc]

If Luck does un-retire I sure hope it is for the Patriots. That would be hilarious.

[HiAndTight]

I believe Luck has already collected the $12M roster bonus for this season and with the signing bonus allocation counts $18.4M against the Colts' cap this year. Not sure how I feel about that, but that could be grounds to be booed by fans.

 

Luck's contract was through 2020, so after that I believe he is free to sign with another team. Right in time for Brady to retire. I don't even want to think about that.

 

 

That contract time does not accrue while retired/holding out. He would still be "under contract," with the Colts if he just sat out for two years.

 

That said, I don't believe he would do that to the Colts. The Colts are too good to be bad enough to get one of the two really sought after QB's the next two years.

 

The NFL will most likely also give the Colts some cap relief from Lucks contract this year. Not that it matters. I don't know who has more cap room in the league than the Colts. I guess I haven't looked since before the season, but they had a MASSIVE amount of cap room and they didn't really spend much in free agency. They'll likely be heading into next year with 100+ million in cap space again next year. And if I had that much money, I'd be it that Andrew Luck plays for the Colts again in the future.

[HiAndTight]

The weird thing about this is Luck finally had a real OL. He came into the league and because he was such a big, physical QB, he could take the beatings almost like Big Ben. Now the Colts invested heavily on their OL and have one of the best in the league, a defense that's getting better and really good, explosive weapons on offense.

 

So just when the Colts have finally built a team that he doesn't have to completely carry, after Ballard hits the lottery on Nelson and Leonard last year and it appeared as though they had a good draft this year, now he retires.

It isn't far fetched at all. I don't buy that he's done. He is 29. 18 months off and his body will feel good. I do not believe he won't get the itch before turning 35. It's happened before, but I'm skeptical here. It would be SUCH a Patriot thing.

 

Nothing would be more of a slap in the face to the Colts or just bad for the NFL to have Brady play at the absurd level he's playing at through his early to mid 40's and then turn around and grab one of the most talented QB's in the NFL after taking a couple years off. They'd literally be upgrading at the position. Think Luck can't throw those little dig routes and seem routes?

 

Again, the Colts would have to inexplicably renounce their rights to him and Luck would have to be willing to go to their biggest rivals and become one of the NFL's all time villains. So I don't see it. I also didn't see Brady winning SB's into his 40's with virtually no change in his play from when he entered the league. So there's that.

 

But I agree with you 100 pct that in 12 months, 18 months, he'll be feeling good and want to get back out there. I just can't imagine it with anyone but Indy. But it really would be the most Pats thing ever for it to play out like this.

[HiAndTight]

Just read that the Colts and Andrew Luck reached a "Settlement," regarding his signing bonus and his roster bonus.

 

The Colts could have asked for 25 million back from Luck and he'd have owed it. The Lions forced Calvin Johnson to pay back part of his signing bonus at the time he retired. The Colts basically said, "keep it," and then Jim Irsay talked about how much he respected Luck for walking away saying he could have made 400-500 million more, but he couldn't look at his teammates in the eye and say he was "all in," and how much character that takes.

 

So the two don't sound like they could be parting on much better terms.

 

My very low opinion of Irsay just went up. 25 million is a lot...even for billionaires and NFL franchises(just think how big the bag of pills he could have bought with that would have been!). But he looked at what Luck did for the franchise and didn't pursue it.