NFL Draft Profile: Andrew Luck
While the Colts FO has made a point in mentioning both Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III whenever they discuss the top pick, the near universal expectation is that the Colts will, and should, select Luck. Luck is compared favoribly not just to the other QBs in this draft class, but to the best QB prospects to ever enter the league. The debate on Luck isn't whether he's the best prospect in this draft, but how many decades has it been since a better QB prospect was available. It's not hard to see why the very high praise for Luck is unanimous, he has everything an evaluator could want. Luck has the size of an NFL QB at 6'4" 234lbs, he has a strong arm and excellent accuracy, he's a great athlete, he put up very good statistics at a high level of competition, his team won lots of games, it's all there.
Statistics:
2009 (RS Freshman): 12 games, 162 for 288 (56.3%), 2575 yards, 8.9 Y/A, 13 TDs, 4 INTs.
2010 (RS Soph): 13 games, 263 for 372 (70.7%), 3332 yards, 9.0 Y/A, 32 TDs, 8 INTs.
2011 (RS Junior): 13 games, 288 for 404 (71.3%), 3517 yards, 8.7 Y/A, 37 TDs, 10 INTs.
Combine:
40 Yard Dash: 4.67 seconds
Vertical Jump: 36 inches
Broad Jump: 10 feet, 4 inches
3 Cone Drill: 6.80 seconds
20 Yard Shuttle: 4.28 seconds
Health Check, by Laura Calaway:
Given that Luck wears a knee brace on his left leg, I expected to learn that he had a history of knee problems or some traumatic knee injury in his past. It turns out that Luck only wears the brace as a preventative measure – it seems to be “a Harbaugh thing” (though somebody in one forum suggested it was used to deliver a shock to Alex Smith to let him know where to throw the ball). Harbaugh wore one when he played, Luck wears one, and current Harbaugh tutorees Smith and Kaepernick wear them during games. The only drawbacks I could imagine of wearing a knee brace are (a) it would slow Luck down a tiny bit, and (b) he risks not winning Comeback Player of the Year after getting his knee wrecked by Bernard Pollard. Ok, so that's a little sarcastic, but frankly I'm glad Luck has taken that step.
The only other injury Andrew Luck has suffered in his recent career is a broken right index finger against Notre Dame in 2009. The injury kept him out of the Sun Bowl that year (in which the Sooners defeated the Cardinals). But for the next 2 years, Luck went on to prove that ‘twas only a flesh wound, as he threw for 3338 and 3517 yards, respectively. Luck is not only one of the best quarterbacks in his class, but he’s one of the healthiest, too.
Positives: Everything not listed as a negative below. Luck is as complete a prospect as it gets, but there are some aspects of his game where the same nits are consistently picked.
Negatives: While his arm is expected to be plenty strong enough to make all the throws on the NFL level, there are QBs with stronger arms out there. Luck forced passes into coverage at times, especially when pressured. He has great accuracy, but no one is accurate enough to always hit tiny windows. His accuracy on deep passes and throwing on the move aren't always great. Luck has a lot of hype to live up to, which might be the biggest obstacle he'll face to being an elite NFL QB.
Further Reading:
I'm excited about Luck. He's an archetypal NFL QB prospect, a stand-up young man that represents himself and his team with a great deal of class, and he's got a good deal more of athleticism than it'd seem on the surface (as evidenced by his combine results). Though the day we had to replace Peyton came centuries too soon, I can't think of any other rookie prospect I would rather have represent the Colts than this man. All credit to RGIII, and I have a feeling he'll make some other team proud, but Luck seems to best fit in with our franchise. Still, I'm gonna miss the hell outta 18.
Based on the clips I saw from this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ufkE8pGAkGs), it's going to be fun watching Luck run for a few first downs/TDs. He showed great burst coming out of the pocket and I know plenty of DBs would hate to try and take out a man his size.
Interesting tidbit from the Bleacher Report write-up is that the author suggests Luck's floor is Matt Ryan. Now, I don't like Ryan much, but I know he's still a pretty good QB. If that's his floor, then sh*t, we should be OK.
Obviously, I hate to see Peyton leave, but if this is our "consolation prize," I think I'm OK with it (sort of :(). It'll be fun to see how he improves.
I've heard Bill Polian say more than once that Luck and RGIII have both had knee injuries. I have no idea when, but I trust Polian has done his homework and isn't just speaking based on the knee brace. Someone should look into this. Also the Harbaugh being his coach thing scares the crap out of me. I hope to God Luck isn't Alex Smith 2.0.
@TrueBlue87 That's exactly my point. If Harbaugh proved one thing last year it is that his system is very QB friendly, and he can make a very average QB look pretty darn good. I hope Luck can stand on his own and isn't just a product of Harbaugh. One thing that Stanford and the 49'ers have is a very good power running game. The Colts, not so much. Luck isn't going to have that luxury in Indy. At least not for a few years.
@ManiacallySteve My point is Alex Smith was universally considered a bust but yet Harbaugh saw enough from him to believe he could run his offense. Luck was coached by Harbaugh in college running the same offense as Alex Smith did last year. Harbaugh should and does get a ton of credit for Smith's recent success. How much of Luck's collegiate success should be attributed to Harbaugh's QB friendly system? I'm just saying if Luck is Alex Smith with a neck beard we are in for a gloomy decade of Colts football.
@Peyton for President @TrueBlue87 I may be misunderstanding your point here, but Smith played for Utah under Urban Meyer, and has never had Harbaugh as a coach before last year. He may very well have been a "system QB" in that respect, but not in Harbaugh's system. That said, i have the exact same worries about Luck. The Colts don't have a power run game and won't for at least a couple of years, if pagano chooses to install one.
@TrueBlue87 @Peyton for President Yeah, the problem was that Alex Smith BEFORE Harbaugh was a huge underachiever. Smith looked great in the playoffs (when you consider that he's Alex Smith), and it's all because of harbaugh's trust in him (and playcalling).
@18to88 I hated going to work. I started my own home business and now make 7k/month from home! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
@18to88 Colts draft Andrew Luck in middle of unemployed former SNL host's speech http://t.co/UWqyCkrD
