Earlier this morning, we brought you all the fallout from Andrew Luck‘s shocking decision to retire. Not surprisingly given how big of an event it was, there’s now even more fallout to cover. One of the nuggets we heard earlier was how the Colts weren’t going to try to recoup any of the money from Luck’s contract that they could’ve under the CBA. If they had chosen to, they apparently wouldn’t have faced too much resistance.
Luck “was open to returning at least a portion of the money that had been paid to him,” a source told Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports. Colts owner Jim Irsay ultimately declined, and let Luck keep a whopping $24.8MM that he could’ve gotten back. Robinson speculates that Irsay could’ve made the call as a gesture of “good will that keeps a door open should Luck ever recuperate physically and hope to return to the NFL.” That’s certainly a reasonable take considering Irsay not very subtly indicated he was hoping Luck would change his mind during his own press conference.
Here’s the latest on everything related to Luck:
- There’s been some slight confusion over the timeline of Luck’s decision, and Stephen Holder of The Athletic sought to clear the air (Twitter link). After speaking with sources, Holder writes that he is “now even more convinced in the timeline that Luck and Colts laid out last night. Luck was working toward a return and the Colts fully expected that return to happen.” There have been some rumblings that Luck was considering walking away further back, but Holder doesn’t believe that to be the case.
- If Luck does want to come back, it isn’t going to be in 2019. The Colts have officially placed him on the reserve/retired list, which means Luck would have to clear waivers to come back this season, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link). As Garafolo points out, that would never happen. Rumors will likely swirl for years to come about a potential Luck comeback, but the door seems to be slammed shut on 2019 at the very least.
- It was only a matter of time before someone brought this up. In an article from early this afternoon, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com floats the possibility of Luck playing in the XFL. The reason this connection was always going to be made by somebody is that Luck’s father, Oliver Luck, is the commissioner of Vince McMahon’s upstart league. Florio himself acknowledges the idea is far-fetched, and it’s hard to imagine any scenario that it happens even though the ten-game season would be less taxing on his body. For starters, Luck would have to receive permission from the Colts to play in another league since he’s still under contract, and that seems extremely unlikely to say the least.
- Luck’s sudden retirement sent shockwaves around the league. To get a sense of what other organizations were feeling, Mike Sando of The Athletic talked to coaches and executives around the league about his decision. One exec compared Luck’s handling of the situation favorably to the way Brett Favre handled his multiple retirements. “Completely healthy, Favre makes the Packers wait, he’s down in Mississippi, he’s taking private jets and has trouble deciding, and finally they trade him,” the exec said. “Luck was straining through rehab and probably going to all the meetings. He had to face the cameras and get booed instead of keeping it quiet and making the decision after the season if he has to sit out. This is much more courageous. This is what defines him.”
So glad someone wrote an article on how Luck won’t be playing in the XFL like some morons were saying. Still hold his rights and it’s been like that for every other player that’s retired with years left don’t know why they thought Luck was special.
I said it…but I was only kidding
$100m in the bank and never has to go back to Indy. Sounds like a winning deal for him. To jeer at Peyton Manning while bragging about “Suck for Luck” then boo Luck. Horrible people. They don’t deserve another championship.
The Phillies fans threw batteries at JD Drew. Clevland burned brons jerseys, twice. The sf Giants fans have beat that dodgers fan (or was it the other way?)
All fans bases have pockets of idiocy.
Dodgers fans beat the life out of a Bryan Stow (a giants fans). That has almost nothing to do with the game and everything to do with stupidity and rage. Indy fans are trash beings. That franchise deserves nothing but dust and blood
It’s the price they pay for stealing the team from Baltimore.
Knowing Jim EarSay as we all do I think it was safe to gas the reason he did not try to get any of the money back is in hopes whether it’s sometime this year or next that Andrew luck changes his mind. This is the same guy when Manning returned to Indianapolis in 38° temperature insisted the roof be open.
“Insisted the roof be open”
Good. No matter what it’s the franchises job to win games. You think they owed dude a “it’s too cold for you so we will close the doors and windows”. Stop it.
Comeback? We’ll see. Pro football is a tough game and despite the money, you have to love it to endure what they do. Don’t blame Luck for walking away.
Luck is one of a kind. Many other interests. 100 mil in the bank. Wife. Child on the way. He’s a very smart guy. Enjoy life.
This article is horribly written from a literature standpoint. Ever hear of proofreading?
He’s done.
I wonder if the Colts owner would have been as generous with Luck had the retirement announcement come months ago…BEFORE fans had shelled out for season tickets.
In the future please leave anything that tool Florio says out of your articles. I read this site so I don’t have to read what that idiot writes. The XFL is far fetched even for that idiot.
Jealous that he’s one of the smartest football minds alive and you aren’t?
Wow, you must not read anything the tool writes.He’s the king of he’ll either do this or that so he can always claim to be right. We have completely different ideas of what smart is.