Posted on June 12, 2018, by Travis Pulver
If you happen to be in or around the Indianapolis area, you may see grown man tearing up for no apparent reason today. Why? Well—because for the first time in what feels like an eternity to Colts fans, Luck is once again throwing a football. Apparently, Colts head coach Frank Reich wasn’t lying when he said that Luck was real close to doing so once again.
The deed went down during Tuesday’s mini-camp practice—and yes, it’s on video.
Via @TylerDBrooke
According to news reports, he made about 20 throws. Many of them were to a stationary Reggie Wayne who was only about ten yards away (if that’s Reggie Wayne in the clip—man, he’s a little heavier than he was in his playing days). But he did throw one that was a good 20 yards. However, none of the throws had any zip on them, but he did throw some while rolling out to his left and right.
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So, it’s not like he was really doing much. We can’t be sure he was throwing a regulation size ball either (Update). Yeah, but we do know one thing.
Andrew Luck if finally throwing footballs again.
He hadn’t done so since his failed attempt to return from his injury last October. Luck had gone under the knife following the end of the 2016 season to repair an issue that had lingered since 2015. The team initially hoped holding him out of training camp and the preseason would be enough.
Obviously, it wasn’t.
A combination of Scott Tolzien and Jacoby Brissett filled the void last season. Brissett was acquired before the start of the regular season but after training camp and the preseason. He relieved Scott Tolzien after a disastrous performance in Week One and started in Week Two. But along with Luck’s injury, the Colts had too many additional players go down to be competitive.
Fans have held onto the hope that Luck just needed more time to get healthy. But after getting strung along by Colts owner Jim Irsay last season, pronouncements of Luck being ‘close’ to throwing have been met with a lot of skepticism this off-season.
Of course, throwing nice and easy with nothing more than a blocking pad thrown at you is not hard to do. Luck has still got a long way to go before he can be of use to the Colts. But at least seeing him throwing makes it easier to think he’ll be ready for the regular season.
Luck could probably use some game time after such a long layoff. But it is hard to imagine him playing in the preseason. The Colts are not going to want to risk an errant hit causing a setback. Luck is way too close to making his return for it to get delayed again.
Just Luck’s return will not make the Indianapolis Colts contenders in the AFC South let alone Super Bowl contenders. But at least they should be a little more fun to watch next season.