Though it seems like a bad dream, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is hanging up the spikes and calling it a career at just 29 years old—a decision that shocked the football world Saturday night.
As droves of supporters came to the side of Luck as he tearfully and bravely announced his decision to retire, there was still a group of people that had choice words for the former No. 1 overall pick.
Coward. Selfish. Soft.
Those were some of the adjectives thrown Luck’s way throughout the course of the announcement Saturday night.
But as he stood in front of the media at Lucas Oil Stadium with an ankle that was likely throbbing with pain and a body that has been through injuries that would come straight out of a Deadpool comic book, Luck proved his decision to retire was anything but cowardly.
The sheer physical toll of Luck’s injury history is incredible. Over the last six seasons, Luck has endured a myriad of significant ailments:
- Torn cartilage in two ribs.
- A torn abdomen.
- A lacerated kidney in 2015 that resulted in, among other issues, blood appearing in his urine.
- At least one documented concussion.
- A torn labrum and its subsequent setback.
- An ankle/calf injury that has persisted since March.
Twitter cowboys want to shout Luck is soft for hanging it up after going through all that when in reality, they would likely call it quits after they stub their toe.
It’s a toxic mentality to call an NFL player soft. The excruciating pain and physical toll this game has on their bodies can only be understood if you’ve been in the trenches. It’s why so many players came out to show support of Luck.
But suffering through the injury history isn’t what makes Luck’s decision brave.
No. What makes Luck’s decision anything but cowardly is the fact that he was willing to admit that the injuries had taken a toll on his mental health. The constant cycle of rehabbing and re-injuring was eating away mentally at one of the fiercest competitors in all of sports.
He knew that in order to live the life he wants, he has to walk away from the game at a very young age. That decision doesn’t come without the highest amount of courage.
Luck stood there at the podium addressing the media unafraid to look at life beyond football—the game that has been a major part of his entire life. The mental taxation of the constant injuries kept Luck from loving the game that helped turned him into the person he is today.
Walking away from what Jim Irsay called “almost half a billion dollars,” Luck knew this game doesn’t define him. He knows what is best for him, better than anyone sitting behind a keyboard on social media.
It’s sad to see Luck hang up the spikes so early in his career after everything he has gone through and with what could have been in the future.
But his decision to put his future before a sport is anything but cowardly.
