Luck retired at the age of 29 in the prime of his career on Saturday night. But his former GM is truly to blame for this decision.
The Colts are in scramble mode after Andrew Luck abruptly retired on Saturday night to find a new quarterback. For this season, it’s going to be Jacoby Brissett. It’s unknown what will happen after that. But if it wasn’t for Ryan Grigson, they wouldn’t be in this position.
Ryan Grigson made many mistakes in his tenure as GM. None were bigger than his failure to build a competent offensive line to protect Luck. Luck was bruised and battered in his first few years in the league. In fact, he got hit the third most of any quarterback from 2012-2016.
Luck suffered too many injuries during that time period. He had a lacerated kidney, concussion, and ultimately the shoulder issue that caused him to miss all of 2017. Injuries are the reason Luck is retiring. He can’t take the pain cycle he’s been in for the last four years anymore.
Grigson is the man to blame for this. Chris Ballard tried to fix the offensive line when he got here, but by then the damage had been done. Luck was already too battered and bruised to take it anymore. Grigson irreversibly damaged the fabric of the franchise.
Jim Irsay deserves some blame too. He was the one who hired Grigson and stuck with him for as long as he did. Irsay could have seen how Grigson was acting with his players and building the roster. Now they have to pick up the pieces of their mistakes.