With a potential season-ending injury, Andrew Luck’s long-term future with the Colts is being questioned. Trading Luck would net the Colts a boatload of draft picks, but is the haul Indianapolis could receive worth parting with their franchise quarterback?
Andrew Luck was the Colts’ first overall pick in 2012 after a disastrous season found the Colts with a record of 2-14.
Luck has made the Pro Bowl three times in his six-year career, and he led the league in passing touchdowns in 2014.
The Colts signed Luck to a six-year $140 million extension before the start of last season. Luck’s annual average salary is on par with fellow Pro Bowl QBs Matthew Stafford, Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins.
Let’s face it, you cannot win championships in the NFL without a great starting quarterback. While Jacoby Brissett has done an admirable job filling in for Luck, but he is far from the Pro Bowl-level starting quarterback the Colts are used to.
Brissett is a solid backup, capable of being successful in a spot-start situation, but it’s hard to see him as a long-term starting solution for the Colts’ quarterback situation.
Next: Would it be Wise for the Colts to Trade Andrew Luck?
If Indianapolis decided to part ways with Luck and wanted to draft one of the young guns from the 2018 draft class, they would be taking quite a risk. For every quarterback prospect that is a hit, there’s a quarterback who is an embarrassing miss.
Making the wrong selection at quarterback through the draft is a process can set a franchise back several years.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars know that reality all too well, as they’ve shuffled through Byron Leftwich, Blaine Gabbert and now Blake Bortles. All three aforementioned quarterbacks were first-round draft choices. The last quarterback to lead the Jags to the post-season was actually a former fourth-round pick David Garrard.
The San Diego Chargers once allowed an injured Drew Brees to walk via free agency. Brees, who had suffered a dislocation of his shoulder and a tear of his labrum and rotator cuff, signed a deal with the New Orleans Saints nine months after surgery.
Since joining the Saints in 2006, Brees has been to nine Pro Bowls, led the NFL in passing yards on seven different occasions, led the league in passing touchdowns four times, and was the Super Bowl MVP in a game that Colts fans would love to forget.
The bottom-line is, a healthy Andrew Luck is the best option for the Indianapolis Colts at quarterback.