Shocking.

What are the odds he returns?

By Chris Landon on 08.24.19 7:28pm

It wouldn't be the worst move to retire and come back in a year for a better team

By worldblee on 08.25.19 9:12am

The Colts under Ballard were really trending in the right direction.

If he joins forces with Darth Hoodie after Brady retires, I may vomit.

By drkato9 on 08.25.19 7:01pm

Hoping

He goes back to Stanford as a coach on Shaw’s crew. Ultimately becomes head coach. He truly understands the value of a great O line, since he never had one at Indy.

By jafco99 on 08.24.19 8:28pm

They (the OL) were very good last year.

Ballard has the team heading in the right direction, and was taking "protect 12" seriously.

By drkato9 on 08.25.19 7:02pm

Last year's TWU had dual personalities.

It couldn’t keep Bryce Love from getting hit as Costello handed him the ball, yet it kept KJ upright long enough to get his passes off. In the past decade, no Stanford RB has tackled deep in the backfield as often as happened to Love last season. There’s no way to describe that offensive line’s run blocking as "very good"! It stunk! Shaw admitted as much.

By Candid One on 08.25.19 7:37pm

It'll be interesting to learn his next gig.

He and his wife are starting a family. Allegedly, by his words, this has had role in his decision. Yet, with so many options, guessing feels too uncertain. His father is currently the head XFL commissioner; will Andrew keep his hand in sports, and in what manner? Or, will he go to grad school in architectural design, or something else? Since Indy is letting him keep his millions in previously incurred contract pay, Andrew will have optimal income conditions for the next chapter of his life. Bon chance, Andrew!

By Candid One on 08.25.19 3:27pm

Tim Green segment next day on "60 Minutes"...

Tim Green has ALS and he gives an extensive interview on how he played and how he attributes his ALS too his football career. Maybe this interview offers a cogent insight into Andrew Luck’s decision. It’s not gruesome interview; on the contrary, it’s quite circumspect. If interested, the CBS 60 Minutes website has that segment available for free on-demand viewing, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-green-coping-with-the-als-he-thinks-was-caused-nfl-atlanta-falcons-syracuse-football-60-minutes-2019-08-25/

Andrew Luck grew up in a NFL football family. None of the Tim Green story is news to him. He’s probably much more aware of such "blessings" of that life than most non-players. Food for thought? Yes.

By Candid One on 08.25.19 7:50pm

Congratulations Andrew!

Realistically, what more was Luck going to accomplish in the NFL. He’s been to the playoffs four times carrying his team, attended multiple Pro Bowls, and is coming off arguably his best year in the NFL. Could he have won a Super Bowl? Possibly…..but highly unlikely (what are the odds here….8% this year? … Vegas has Colts at 12 to 1).

The guy hurts, and has the perspective and intelligence to walk away from the game and pursue some interesting things. Luck has always viewed football as a part of his life ……not his whole life. Now his life is bigger with a wife and perhaps a kid to come. There are examples of other great players who have walked away at this point (Gronk), and some Stanford players who left the NFL after a couple of years because of concerns about long term health issues.

The timing is a little inconvenient for the Colts, but they have been blessed with a great player.

Very proud of Andrew Luck both as a football player and as a person. #STANFORDPROUD!

By hoyaparanoia on 08.26.19 7:44am

Sad Day

Perhaps it is just because this came so unexpectedly, but I’m still feeling raw and sad with the news. I’ve followed Andrew since he was being recruited, and still remember the hope that he was waiting in the wings to take over the quarterback position for Harbaugh at Stanford. Of course, no one who has followed him could do anything less than hold him in the highest esteem as a person, nor as a football warrior. I’m grateful for that, and I will never forget sitting in the LA Coliseum with my late best friend (and USC alum) as Luck led Stanford to a triple-overtime victory over USC. There were countless other memories as well.

He alone knows his full situation and why he made the decision to retire, so I can’t gainsay the wisdom of his choice. It is easy to point to his many opportunities in various fields of endeavor. Yet, from a football perspective, he never had the chance to play in a championship, and for someone of his talent, this seems like greatly unfulfilled potential. This was his best chance as a pro. Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman talk about the best players they’ve seen in college football and will always include Marcus Mariota but never mention Luck, despite his two runner-up Heisman campaigns. I saw both players play, and I’m sorry, but there was no doubt who was a more impactful performer. I think their memories are distorted by the Heisman and by Mariota’s chance to play in the college football playoffs. Luck has thus failed to leave a mark with a championship performance, or even a championship run. It feels like he was at basecamp on Mt. Everest, fully prepared to finally make the ascent when he retired. So, that is why it hurts to see him retire just now. He has a great legacy, and great opportunities for the future, but these cannot be viewed apart from the opportunity cost of retiring.

By SN94703 on 08.26.19 9:49am

Fully understandable decision

I fully support Andrew’s decision in this case, as hard as it must have been.

At 29, the catalog of his injuries sustained in the NFL can only be described as gruesome. The OL play in Indianapolis prior to the 2018 season was woeful — a set of fixed turnstiles likely would have been more effective at blocking pass rushers, to be honest. It was unfortunately a very bad situation for him right from the start, in terms of getting zero protection, and he paid the price again and again and again. He showed incredible toughness through it all, but at 29, with the deck of cards that he has overall, the logic of retiring now, before he does irreversible damage to his body, is pretty compelling.

Andrew Luck has a lot of tricks in his bag. I am not sure he will stay around football in terms of coaching. Maybe he will (he is a legendary football geek), but I get the sense that he really wants to see more normalcy in his life on a day-to-day — the kind of normalcy that the life of a coach in big-time CFB and certainly the NFL does not at all permit. I remember him saying once that he actually wanted to practice architecture at some point … maybe that’s what he will pursue in the next chapter, after a much-deserved break from the grind.

I often wonder these days whether football is simply getting out of control. Thinking about all of Andrew Luck’s injuries over the years has brought these concerns front and center in my mind again. Despite protocols and the like, players are getting bigger and faster all the time, and physics is what it is. I know a lot of parents (generally these are the higher educated sorts) who will not even consider having their children participate in football at any level due to the injury risk and the cumulative impact of hundreds or thousands of hits. This makes me wonder if we are moving towards a kind of gladiatorial sport model for football which, if so, is deeply concerning.

By Brendan Ross on 08.26.19 11:10am

Good and bad news

Like others, I was a tremendous fan of Luck in the NFL. I blame Bruce Arians and Irsay. Arians knew he was not going to get to remain the head coach of Indy, so rather than take loses to protect Luck’s health, he forced Andrew to throw deep and often, with no running game or offensive line. Bruce Arians essentially sacrificed Luck’s health to get himself a head coaching job. I really thought Luck was going to get knocked out of the league three years earlier.

Now, some of the blame should be put on the GM, Griggs(?). Neither he nor Pagano protected Luck on the field. Though, unlike Arians, I think their choices were due to incompetence. Griggs had no business as a GM and his draft picks were complete failures. Nor did he and Pagano make protecting Luck the #1 priority.

The good news is I can stop caring about the NFL. With Luck gone, I have less interest and will not feel compelled to watch a team I would otherwise have zero interest in.

By Blackjoy on 08.26.19 11:17am

Agree 100%

A. Luck playing at a convenient time, I sometimes watched. Otherwise, zero interest until Super Bowl, and I have missed some of those. I watched more earlier in Andrew’s career and was appalled by the beating he took because of an incompetent line. Then I was appalled that it didn’t ever seem to change. Indy is owned and operated by morons.

By jafco99 on 08.26.19 7:29pm

Still leaves me...

…DVRing Carolina. Now, I think I have to add Philly.

Admiring Andrew that much more these days…

By Plan Man on 08.27.19 12:11pm

Spider 2 Y Banana (add: "with Andrew Luck" when googling)

This video of John Gruden and Andrew Luck reviewing film and talking this play ("Don’t throw the Venus!) is hilarious. On the 3-OT game with USC, Andrew "threw the Venus" and was intercepted. Gruden asked AL "What did Coach say to you?" AL replied "You’ve got two minutes". AL led them to the tying TD, and the rest is history.

By jafco99 on 08.26.19 7:50pm