Five years ago, Andrew Luck retired in his prime right before turning 30. He has no plans to attempt a comeback.
Luck attended Friday’s Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala, an annual charity event hosted by former Indianapolis Colts head Chuck Pagano to raise money for cancer research. The quarterback said he definitively put his playing career to rest once he walked away before the 2019 season.
“When I retired, that part of it was put to bed in my mind in a very simple, sort of direct way,” Luck said, per the Indianapolis Star‘s Joel A. Erickson. “There were a lot of complications around it, you know, certainly tormented inside, as you guys saw that night, but I think that part of it has stayed.”
With that said, Luck has missed certain elements of the game.
“It gives you purpose. It gives you structure,” Luck said. “You’re on a team. I think you find some, you know, it scratches some deep itches of relationship and community and purpose and hard work.”
After missing all of 2017 with a shoulder injury, Luck returned to accrue 4,593 passing yards and 39 touchdowns in 2018. But the former No. 1 pick shocked the world by retiring the following preseason.
Although the 34-year-old won’t play again, he is finding ways to stay close to football. Luck appeared on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football studio coverage last season and is a part-time high school football coach in California.
Luck said football “gave me a lot” and called it “my turn to give back.”
“I have certainly realized I still love this game, and I want to have it integrated in my life,” Luck said. “It’s just, it’s got to be different.”