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When you get a franchise quarterback in the NFL, you like to think you have anywhere from 10-15 solid years of play in that particular player. Sure, there are exceptions to that rule both in shorter, and longer, careers, but that 10-15 year range is the average.
For the Indianapolis Colts, they knew they had their guy in Andrew Luck from the moment he was drafted out of Stanford first overall. But that all changed Saturday night when news hit the wire that Luck is calling it a career at age 29.
Here is what fans saw when they checked Twitter:
Filed to ESPN: Andrew Luck has informed the Colts he is retiring from the NFL, per source. There will be a press conference Sunday to make it official, but Luck is mentally worn down, and now checking out.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 25, 2019
After battling injury after injury, the word is that #Colts QB Andrew Luck was simply too worn down to continue. And so he abruptly retires at age 29. Jacoby Brissett is the new QB of the Colts.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 25, 2019
The #Colts have known that QB Andrew Luck was seriously mulling retiring for at least two weeks. He’s married, he plans to travel the world, and once the love for the game waned, it sounds like he wanted to step away. So, he did.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 25, 2019
If you are, or know, a fan of the Colts, you have to be absolutely devastated. This leaves the team with Jacoby Brissett as the starting quarterback with just two weeks to go left in the preseason. Not ideal circumstances for the organization.
Luck has battled both shoulder and calf injuries the past few seasons, and it is being reported it was just too much on his body to want to continue. When the game became a chore, couple with his injuries, he decided to call it a career.
In the meantime, the certainly impacts everyone who plays the Colts in 2019, including the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are slated to host the Colts at Heinz Field in Week 9 at 1:00 p.m. When the schedule came out, a Ben Roethlisberger vs. Andrew Luck contest was tabbed for that date, now it could be Roethliseberger vs. Brissett.
This is just the latest example of how crazy the NFL landscape can change in the drop of a hat. One injury, or in this case retirement, can completely alter the future of a franchise. Now the Colts are left wondering what to do, while the rest of the AFC South, and by proxy the AFC, sees them as a much weaker team.