Andrew Luck delivers important message by retiring

Four years ago, only a few seasons removed from being a top-10 pick, Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker quit the NFL at 25. His career hadn’t lived up to its promise, but the ability was there, and, were he willing, Locker could have logged five years or so as a backup, collecting steady paychecks with relatively little bodily risk. 

Locker had his share of injuries, but ultimately the deciding factor for him was a lack of desire. He simply didn’t want to put in the obsessive level of detail work needed to be a viable NFL quarterback. Locker’s retirement in 2015 coincided with that of young linebacker Chris Borland and a few others, prompting a panicked conversation about whether players would start fleeing football en masse out of concern for long-term health risks.

A mass exodus of players from football never occurred, yet the NFL has little reason today to feel great about its long-term prospects on the heels of the retirement of Andrew Luck, one of the league's leading lights. 

Luck’s abrupt exit from pro football seems entirely at odds with why Locker left. His love of the sport remains evident, but he was unwilling to put in a potentially years-long effort to return to full health. In ways charming and a little wacky, Luck has shown over the years to be a man of diverse interests. 

When healthy, Luck was every bit the quarterback that Peyton Manning was in Indianapolis, but he never shared his monomaniacal obsession with the intricacies of the game. That isn’t to say Luck didn’t work hard at it and spend lots of time turning game situations over in his head, but he was never quite willing to make it his public persona the way Peyton did. 

To this day, that tendency can be used against a player. Just last year, scouts dogged quarterback Josh Rosen in advance of the draft because they claimed he cared too much about matters outside of football, even -- gasp! -- politics. Luck managed to have his fun and avoid that criticism because he produced on the field.

When Luck missed all of the 2017 season with a torn labrum, the quarterback considered walking away. Few questioned his commitment, but the recovery time from the injury kept dragging on to the point many speculated that Luck would never return. 

To his credit, Luck did and to great effect. He won the 2018 Comeback Player of the Year after throwing for 39 touchdowns and 4,593 yards. Indianapolis returned to the postseason for the first time since the infamous Deflategate conference championship loss to the Patriots following the 2014 season. Though the Colts got trounced in that game, it  felt at the time that it was the beginning of their run. It seemed like Luck, just as Peyton had, would lead the Colts to a Super Bowl title.  

That might have happened if Luck figured it was worth it, or the team did a better job of protecting him with offensive line talent. But what was initially reported to be calf injury at the start of this year’s training camp suddenly worsened into a high-ankle  issue. The Colts did their best to deflect reporters who wondered why Luck had been held out of practice with some frequency dating to the spring. In preseason, they demanded answers and a timetable for his return. 

The sports community, fans and the media, would prefer all athletes take the Tom Brady approach: to keep playing and amassing accolades until they physically cannot. Athletes who refuse to make sports a life-and-death matter knock the air out of bloviating media and fans who take it all too seriously. (Fans did take it too seriously during the Colts preseason game Saturday, booing Luck off the field after he spent the game on the sidelines as Adam Schefter circulated the news about the impending retirement.)

In some ways, fans are the only ones left showing loyalty. Teams bolt from cities once another presents an enticing stadium proposal. Players don’t often show loyalty to teams anymore, and after decades of non-guaranteed contracts, it’s easy to see why. Yet fans still cling to their favorite team.

Whether Luck’s departure will touch off another spate of retirements remains to be seen, though it seems unlikely. A high-ankle or shoulder problem doesn't compare with the head trauma issue that has caused the NFL’s panic over its future the past decade.

If anything, Luck’s exit may send a message to kids: that reaching the pinnacle maybe isn’t the be-all end-all that culture says it is, and the stresses that go along with it sometimes detract too much for even tens of millions of dollars and nationwide adulation. 

For young people today, beset by economic precarity more than generations before, there's a value in freedom from work that makes Luck's retirement appealing. These people are burned out, and they understand one person only needs so much wealth. So presented the choice of a struggle for meaningless glory that only benefits the system or a clean break, they have a role model who chose to break.