Former NFL superstar no. 1: Andrew Luck, QB
It’s hard to believe it’s now been four years since Andrew Luck last played in the NFL.
Luck’s career unexpectedly came to a halt after the 2018 season when the Colts quarterback decided to retire ahead of his age 30 season.
It was about as shocking of an announcement as you’ll see in today’s NFL and Luck truly went out as he was approaching some of his peak years.
He missed the 2017 season due to injury but won Comeback Player of the Year in 2019 after throwing 39 touchdown passes and getting sacked only 18 times, the lowest total of his NFL career over a full season by a million miles.
Luck was the top overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, a player the Indianapolis Colts were comfortable enough with that they straight up cut Peyton Manning.
Luck didn’t let them down, throwing 171 touchdown passes in 86 games with another 14 touchdowns as a runner.
Basically the ideal quarterback prospect coming out of college, Luck was every bit an NFL superstar capable of dominating games.
Luck is 32 going on 33 this year and if he were still playing, you can’t help but think he’d still be throwing his hat into the MVP ring on an annual basis.
He’d be keeping the Colts in Super Bowl contention and shaking up the wild AFC.
It’s one of the toughest “What If?” scenarios to think about Luck still playing in the NFL. As special as we’ve seen some QBs like Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, and Josh Allen become, Luck was truly that dude and would no question be keeping pace with those guys.
Although there have been some rumors over the last handful of years, Luck seems content in retirement.
Selfishly, many NFL fans would love to see Luck playing again but it seems like what we saw from 2012-2018 is all we’re going to get.