Just as he was summiting, he descended.
Not many NFL starters leave the sport at their prime. The exception everyone points to is Andrew Luck. A former Stratford High School grad, who once threw over 7,000 yards beneath the Lone Star Friday Night Lights, abruptly dismounted at his very peak, retiring after seven seasons at the age of 29.
Usually, retirements are celebratory events acknowledging the end of storied careers. Andrew Luck wrote his announcement longhand on a notepad. And then abruptly recited it to a stunned sports world. The date was August 24, 2019: two weeks before the start of the season. At a press conference, Luck cited recurrent injuries and rehab as the primary reasons.
Three years later, Luck is expressing regrets, specifically about the timing of his departure. Still located in Indianapolis, the city that drafted him, Luck seems to still be in an in-between: he’s a father, a local celebrity, a ski enthusiast, a recluse, and a NFL starter that should have been an all-time great.
For those who last saw Luck, wiping away tears at the podium that fateful August, he’s a man that walked away from a contract worth double the $139 million deal that made up his previous deal.
Luck, whose home is still located five minutes from the Colts facility, has finally opened up to the reasons he departed the game he once regarded so dearly.
In a recent ESPN interview, the one time great Texas high school, Stanford, and Colts athlete spoke on his mental over the last several years.
Luck claims life was a whirlwind since his days play calling at Stratford High School in Houston. In 2012, he entered the league buried beneath enormous expectations, having to fill the legendary cleats of Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. The burden was significant, though Luck adapted, and the first three years went his way.
However, in the third game of the 2015 season, Tennessee Titans defensive end Brian Orakpo collided with Luck from behind, starting a glut of injuries the quarterback would wrestle with through his short career.
Torn right labrum.
Partial abdominal tear.
Lacerated kidney.
Separated acromioclavicular joint. The list went on and on.
The once jovial Luck became embittered by his paranoia of pain. A lingering weakness in his shoulder made him experience failure for the first time in his life, making him internalize the agony he experienced. He placed emotional guard rails up in front of his then girlfriend. Finally, he broke down, citing being self-absorbed, and began visiting a professional therapist with his future wife.
In 2018, he gave it all he had, finishing the year with 42 touchdown passes. After, MRI’s failed to explain his chronic pain in his foot, and Luck grew exhausted by the hamster wheel of rehab. Finally, the summer before the season was about to start, Luck threw in the towel.
Years after retirement, when speaking to a high school football team, a kid asked Luck what his biggest regret from his NFL career was.
Luck admitted to regretting the timing of his decision. He felt like he let the fanbase and his teammates down. Even after leaving the game, he would still text advice to the locker room following games. Then, the COVID pandemic delayed the season, and Luck was barricaded in his home away from the game he once loved.
To conclude his musings, Luck later told ESPN: “Life has been lived here. Not perfect life. But life.
Since Luck left, the Colts haven’t quite recovered, recycling through five starting quarterbacks since the retirement. Luck is currently a university student at Stanford, the college where it all started post Texas HS Football. He wants to get into coaching and start in a new chapter, one that’s back on the gridiron .
