Here we are. Week 3 of the NFL season. Depending on when you held your fantasy draft, you drafted Andrew Luck anywhere from the 4th to 10th round, assuming you would have a top fantasy quarterback in your lineup at some point. He avoided injured reserve, so your hopes that you would be able to use him sooner rather than later gained optimism. If you drafted early and selected Luck in the mid-rounds, chances are you didn’t take a backup until much later in the draft. Perhaps Carson Palmer? Sam Bradford? Maybe you thought you got lucky and were able to get Marcus Mariota or Andy Dalton? Regardless of who your backup is, your not getting the production you hoped for. Especially not getting the production of what a healthy Andrew Luck would give you. Afterall, he did give fantasy owners over 4,000 yards, 31 passing touchdowns and another 2 on the ground, in 2016. All while playing with a hurt shoulder.
We, the public, really didn’t know much about the shoulder injury because the Colts kept it a secret. In fact, we later find out that he has had this injury since week 3 of the 2015 season. Yes, that’s 2015. Shortly after last season, the team announced that Luck underwent successful right shoulder surgery. Again, not much out there as to what the injury was, but we later found out it was a labrum repair. A labrum repair? Still vague in that it could mean many different things, and each “thing” could be a different recovery time. Now, I am not a doctor, and I don’t want to pretend to be one, but I’ve followed enough sports to know that a labrum repair, especially if it’s a tear, is not an easy recovery. You hear a lot about labrum injuries in the baseball world when it comes to pitchers. An injury that often sees pitchers never be the same or seen from at all for that matter. I understand that throwing a baseball and football are not the same thing. Different mechanics, motion, I get that. However, throwing a 14-15 oz football ( less if your Tom Brady) regardless of mechanics is still putting an extraordinary amount of pressure on the shoulders. The standard recovery time for recovery of such an injury is 6-8 months of “normal activity”. I don’t believe the medical world considers throwing a football as hard as you can, as “normal activity”. Let’s take the 8 months. That would bring us to mid August from the time he had the surgery.
Enough of the medical talk. What do we do if we own Andrew Luck on our fantasy team? That’s the hot question going around. Twenty-four percent of players in Yahoo leagues believe he isn’t even worth rostering at this time. Maybe they’re right. I know they are, if their league doesn’t have an IR spot (something all leagues should have). So once again it’s week 3 and Luck isn’t out there. He’s not even practicing. The fact that he’s not even practicing means that he’s not going to be out there week 4 either. Best case scenario is that he begins practicing during the week heading into week 4. Do we believe he’ll be ready to play an NFL game in week 5, after only a little more than a week of practice? I don’t. Eliminate him for week 5 too then. Maybe it will be week 6 against divisional opponent Tennessee?. Seems a bit more logical. But that’s IF he begins practicing heading into week 4. If not, just keep extending the time frame. The Colts wouldn’t want his first game back to be week 7 against the Jaguars, who lead the league with 11 sacks through the first two games, would they? This is what you have to look forward to as Luck owner. There is no time table (or even an estimate) for his return, and that’s not a good thing. At this point, it’s warranted to wonder why the team just didn’t IR him to start the season. Looks like we’re heading towards the date he would’ve been eligible to come back anyway.
The Verdict: Unless you have an IR spot on your roster, and do not need it for someone else, cut bait. Get rid of him. Not only don’t we know when he’s coming back, but we also have no idea what he’s going to be like when he does return. He’s bound to be rusty for a couple of weeks upon his return as well. We can’t even get excited about having him for the playoffs (week 15- vs DEN/ week 16- @ Bal). If the production from your backups isn’t what you’re looking for, or you want that “steady” and consistent QB, then find the person in your league who has 2 of them (there’s always one or two of those in your league) and make an offer. If they have two good quarterbacks, chances are they’ll be willing to deal one. Or you could simply stream. Of course each league is different and the amount of available players varies from league to league. Drop him. Go pick up that running back or wide receiver that could actually have an impact on your fantasy season. When he returns, let the other people in your league spend all their FAAB or use the top waiver pick on him. They’ll be disappointed at the end. His schedule is tough, his offensive line isn’t very good, and the running game is averaging 2.8 yards per carry. It was a chance worth taking, but it’s time to say goodbye to having an effective Andrew Luck on your fantasy team for 2017. Let him be someone else’s headache.
This column is solely for the purpose of the 2017 season and current situation of the player. We like Andrew Luck and hope he returns healthy enough to be an elite QB contributor for the 2018 season. This is not intended to imply that we think he is a bad player. That, he is not.
