When former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck retired following the 2018 campaign after just seven seasons in the league, it through the NFL for a loop.
Said retirement was reported in the middle of a preseason game in the summer of 2019 and left the Colts out cold at the quarterback position. Now, roughly 18 months later, the Colts are looking for a new starting quarterback after Philip Rivers announced his retirement.
It led to rumors that luck could potentially return to Indianapolis next season. Colts owner Jim Irsay apparently is not having any of that.
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Indianapolis Colts’ Jim Irsay suggests Andrew Luck will remain retired
“I’ll tell you this, Chris, and to all Colt fans,” Irsay said Thursday, via Fox 59’s Chris Widlic . “I think everyone just needs to digest this fact that he’s more retired now than he was a year and a half ago. I mean, he is retired.”
I guess this is better than keeping Colts fans’ hopes up. Still only 31, Luck obviously would have a lot remaining in the tank should he shock the football world once again and come out of retirement. Heck, fellow star quarterback Tom Brady just hinted that he’s willing to play beyond his 45th birthday.
For Luck, that was never the goal. The co-valedictorian of the Stanford graduating class in 2008, Andrew Luck has his eyes on things outside of the football world. Hence, why he opted to hang up his cleats at the young age of 29. Luck finished his career with 23,671 passing yards, 171 touchdowns and just 83 interceptions in seven seasons.
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback situation
Now that we can put these Andrew Luck rumors to rese, the focus in Indianapolis has to be to find another starter-caliber quarterback after Rivers led the team to an 11-5 record and a playoff appearance.
The Colts missed out on Matthew Stafford, who was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams late last month. They are not going to land Deshaun Watson from the division-rival Houston Texans.
With those two options off the table, the pickings are slim. In-house candidates Jacoby Brissett and Jacob Eason would be seen as fallback options.
It’s in this that the Colts have been linked to both Philadelphia Eagles signal caller Carson Wentz and Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers. Wentz, in particular, could be an interesting option in that he succeeded under Colts head coach Frank Reich when the latter was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator.