Andrew Luck’s retirement has now reached the desk of the Vice President of the United States. Luck, who is a four-time Pro Bowler, announced his retirement on Saturday night after the Colts preseason game against the Chicago Bears. However, news initially broke during the game, which led to fans booing the injured quarterback as he left the field. It was an emotional scene for all parties involved as his early retirement not only affects what could be a Super Bowl team in Indy, but the AFC South (and frankly the AFC as a whole).
On Wednesday, the vice president, Mike Pence spoke with The Blaze about the former quarterback retiring from his home team, the Indianapolis Colts.
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“Well, look, Andrew Luck is a great football player and he’s a great guy. He’s gone through a tough four years, a lot of injuries. I am disappointed to see him retire from the Indianapolis Colts, I’m almost a lifelong fan of the Colts, but I wish him well,” Pence said.
Pence continued: “Who knows, he’s a young man and, I don’t know, we may seem him in football somewhere down the road. He’s been a great, great part of the Indianapolis Colts and we wish him well.”
The most interesting portion of Pence’s comments about Luck are his thoughts on whether we’d see the former Stanford QB back in football one day, as he’s only 29 years old with plenty of good years ahead of him. The question though becomes in what capacity?
Luck was in tears Saturday night at the podium and it was evident that he lost so much enjoyment in life dealing with the physical and mental hurdles that come not only from the injuries but the grueling process to come back from them. Couple that with Tuesday seeing almost the same emotions from newly retired Patriots tight end, Rob Gronkowski and you can see just how much these players go through and a window into the pain we don’t see when the cameras turn off. Luck is incredibly gifted in terms of football athleticism, but remember it doesn’t just stop with his right arm. He’s an intelligent human being with many interests and a new wife with goals of building a family together, after some much deserved travel and relaxation.
As for the Indianapolis Colts, head coach Frank Reich now heads into the 2019 season with starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett who was considered the best No. 2 QB across the entire NFL. There are Super Bowl aspirations this year in Indy and, even though Brissett certainly isn’t the caliber of former No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Luck, he has experience from the 2017 season and took all the reps this offseason while Luck rehabbed his injuries.
Week 1 in Los Angeles against the Chargers will give us all an idea of just how large a loss Luck is to not only his team, but the NFL as a whole.
