Name: Andrew Luck- Height: 6’4
- Weight: 235
- School: Stanford
- Year: Redshirt Junior
- Draft Projection: 1st Round (Top 5)
You could waste enormous amounts of bandwidth extolling the virtues of Andrew Luck. On the field he is smart, competitive, and has a smooth and clean delivery. Off it, he is intelligent, polite, and driven to be more than just a football player. All those traits in confluence make Luck perhaps the best prospect at the position since Peyton Manning.
Many questioned Luck’s decision to return to Stanford for his junior season. He was a virtual lock to be taken number one by Carolina and basic math tells you that is about as high as you can go. But it is ultimately Luck’s life to lead, and he made the decision he felt was best and you have to trust his motives. Wasting time debating whether or not he made the right call is pointless. The risk, obviously, is there. Sam Bradford made a similar decision and he suffered a pair of serious shoulder injuries that pretty much wiped out his junior season. But even Bradford rebounded to go number one, and given Luck’s combination of character, production, and experience in a pro-style offense, it would take a catastrophic injury to knock Luck out of the top five picks.
He looks as though he was built in a football factory. At 6’4 and 235 pounds, he has ideal size for the position and he is not afraid to both take and deliver hits, two things NFL coaches will likely try to guide him away from. While his arm is not elite, it is more than good enough, and he is able to make all the throws and fit the ball into a tight window, though his deep ball can float at times. Above all else he appears to have that unquantifiable ability to elevate his teammates’ abilities, a skill that has proven invaluable over the course of football history. He makes plays when it matters and instills confidence in his teammates that they can do the same. Even with all of his physical skills, that may be his best attribute.
Of course, Luck is not perfect. He does not have the greatest pocket presence and can sometimes bail out of his throws, electing to throw off his back foot, and he occasionally fails to stay patient throughout his progressions, opting to elude rushers and escape pass rushers instead. Those are correctable flaws, however, and something that many young quarterbacks struggle with. If that is his biggest flaw, he is going to be coveted on draft day and will likely continue the run of quarterbacks going with the draft’s top pick.
Fantasy Outlook: Luck could be the rare quarterback that sneaks into the top five in many rookie drafts. He has the potential to be join the elite of the quarterback ranks along with guys like Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, etc. That is, of course, the absolute ceiling for any quarterback, but that is what owners will be looking for with Luck, and given his hype and pedigree, he may only be surpassed in value by elite talents such as Trent Richardson, Alshon Jeffery, and Justin Blackmon. He’s a future QB1 with the tools to become annually elite at the position.
