Andrew Luck, the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback and Indianapolis Colts’ franchise player whose career became dogged by injuries in recent years, has announced he is retiring from professional football aged 29.
ESPN was first to report Luck’s stunning decision on Saturday night as the Colts hosted the Chicago Bears in a preseason contest at Lucas Oil Stadium, saying the signal-caller was “mentally worn down” and had already spoken with Colts owner Jim Irsay.
After the game, Luck made it official in an emotional press conference.
Indianapolis Colts
(@Colts)Andrew Luck announces his retirement from the @NFL. https://t.co/PK9ADYBuOX
“I’ve been stuck in this process,” said Luck, who’s missed 26 games over the past four seasons due to a litany of shoulder, kidney, ankle and rib ailments. “I haven’t been able to life the live I want to live. It’s taken the joy out of this game.”
He added: “The only way forward for me is to remove myself from football.”
One of the best amateur prospects of his generation, Luck was chosen with the No 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft as the Colts’ successor to Peyton Manning following a decorated career at Stanford University. He immediately delivered on his promise, leading Indianapolis to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons, including a 2014 campaign where he threw a league-best 40 touchdown passes while taking the Colts to the AFC championship game.
But a shoulder injury suffered during the opening month of the 2015 season was the first of many woes that would increasingly compromise Luck’s fitness, including a lacerated kidney and a partially torn abdominal muscle later that year which ended his season. That didn’t stop the Colts from signing Luck that summer to a six-year extension worth $140m, including $87m guaranteed, to make him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time.
After undergoing offseason surgery on the shoulder ahead of the 2017 season, Luck was held out the entire year as the Colts slumped to 4-12 with back-up quarterback Jacoby Brissett under center. But he returned to play all 16 games in 2018, finishing second in the league in touchdown passes and winning the league’s Comeback Player of the Year award.
“After 2016, where I played in pain and was unable to regularly practice, I made a vow to myself that I would not go down that path again,” Luck said. “I find myself in a similar situation and the only way forward for me is to remove myself from football and this cycle that I’ve been in.
“We’ve come to the proverbial fork in the road.”
Luck, who turns 30 next month, will retire with career totals of 23,671 passing yards and 171 touchdowns in six active seasons with the AFC South club.
His abrupt retirement means Brissett will be expected to start for the Colts when they open their regular season on 8 September at the Los Angeles Chargers.
