THE news of Andrew Luck’s retirement from the NFL came out of nowhere, a genuine bombshell moment that took even the football cognoscenti by surprise. 

At 29 years old, and soon to be 30, Luck decided to prematurely call time on his stellar career as an NFL quarterback, after spending his seven years in the league with the Indianapolis Colts.

After missing out the 2017 NFL season following surgery on his right shoulder, his throwing arm, Luck took his rightful place among the NFL’s passing elite in 2018, throwing for 4,593 passing yards, 39 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. 

On top of that, Luck was crowned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award. He was back and looking sharper than ever, and the Colts had aspirations of making a Super Bowl with Luck at the helm in 2019.

Adam Schefter of ESPN broke the news late on Saturday night, which was shortly followed by a press conference from Luck after the Colts 27-12 pre-season loss to the Chicago Bears. 

Luck spent around 24 minutes in his retirement press conference largely thanking the Colts organisation, as well as his friends, family and the game of football in general. 

That’s the type of man Andrew Luck is, a humble human being who would often congratulate opposing defenders who sacked him or hit him.

Luck loved football. As he phrased it though, the last four years of his career has been a common theme of “injury, pain, rehab,” and the only way to get out of the cycle was to remove himself from the game of football. 

Luck, in a much-applauded move, has made a conscious decision to choose his health over the game of football.

It’s not just his physical health that he is protecting by retiring, it’s his mental health. Luck, in the past, has referred to “the dark place,” as well as saying “I don’t know my worth as a human.” 

To not see this as a mental health issue, and in some ways, an identity crisis is asinine. 

Luck put not only his body but his mental wellbeing on the line for the Colts over the last seven years. To spend the last four years in a constant cycle of rehabilitation must strike you on more than just a football level. 

The mental toll that it would take is something neither you nor myself can even fathom. Luck entered the league and joined one of the worst teams in the NFL and took a beating on a regular basis.

Among a list of countless injuries that Luck sustained, he played an NFL game with a lacerated kidney. Literally putting his life on the line for a game of football. 

OK, players know the risks of playing the game, but this should be a wake-up call.

A few days after Luck’s retirement, former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski got emotional while discussing his own decision to retire. 

He also mentioned how he was not “in a good place,” citing that football was bringing him down and he was “losing that joy in life.” 

Again, just like Luck, this goes beyond the confines of just physical pain. There is a larger issue at hand here.

This might not be their modus operandi, but Luck and Gronkowski are now advocates for choosing life over football. At 29 years old, it is hard to break that cycle. 

Players are working to get into the NFL from an early age. Their whole identities are built around being football players, but that’s not all they are. 

They are humans and there is more to life than just football. Luck and Gronkowski are breaking the trend and proving such with their early retirements.

They are proving that there is a way out, you just have to be in a place where you can take that step. 

Players shouldn’t have to keep playing football until their bodies no longer let them, they should be able to leave on their terms. That’s what this move is. It’s Andrew Luck leaving on his terms, even if the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium didn’t agree with it.

While one section of fans, or in this case, an extremely large section of fans don’t necessarily paint the whole picture, it shows that fans are fickle and unappreciative. 

For those that are unaware, Luck was booed off the field when walking down the tunnel on Saturday night, shortly after the news of his retirement reverberated throughout the NFL.

A reprehensible act from every perspective. It proves that fans don’t care about players’ wellbeing, not unless they are winning. Fans only care about wins and losses, not the bigger picture. 

Those fans tarnish the reputation of kind-hearted, and generally supportive, fans. They are why players should make decisions based on their lives for themselves, and not for anyone else.

I, for one, am happy for Andrew Luck. This is the hardest step taken on a new venture and one that hopefully puts an identity crisis to bed. 

Andrew Luck is more than football. Everyone is.