Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck has received more hype than any college quarterback I’ve seen in my time.
Maybe it has something to do with Luck coming back for his senior season, but this whole “Suck for Luck” sweepstakes – as it’s been called – is ridiculous.
Nobody even knows if this guy will pan out to be a great NFL quarterback.
He has put up impressive numbers in his college career. He’s thrown for over 8,100 yards, 68 touchdowns, just 16 interceptions and a 64% completion rate in three seasons at Stanford. There’s no denying the quarterback has impressive stats, and he also runs a pro-style offense at Stanford that will make the transition to the NFL easier.
Everything seems to set the 6-4, 235 pound quarterback up for a great NFL career. It’s tough for scouts to even come up with any negatives about Luck.
I know we’ve seen rookie quarterbacks be successful early in their NFL careers with Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, and Christian Ponder. But we can’t say it’s a forgone conclusion that Luck will dominate in the NFL.
Although they haven’t probably been as hyped as Luck, there’s been many top college quarterbacks drafted that have turned out as huge busts. JaMarcus Russell, Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Joey Harrington, David Carr, Tim Couch and Ryan Leaf are major busts from just the past twelve years.
And those are just top ten drafted quarterbacks, so there are many others who have also failed in the NFL.
I’m not saying Luck will not be successful in the NFL because I expect him to be, but people need to understand he’s human.
There will be an incredible pressure on Luck from his first NFL start to perform at a high level. People aren’t just expecting him to simply be successful at the next level, but to be the next Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron or Rodgers.
It’s ridiculous that some experts have already compared Luck to the great Broncos quarterback John Elway. That’s not a justifiable comparison, unless you are comparing his stats in college and his physical attributes. The kid hasn’t even played a snap of professional football.
Luck also needs to be placed in an environment where he can succeed. If he has a lousy offensive line and no weapons, how can be possibly be an elite NFL quarterback?
Luck has played in the conference formerly known as the Pac-10, which has been subpar the past couple of years. Luck hasn’t faced much adversity in his junior and senior year besides a couple tight games with USC. Great NFL quarterbacks perform at their best with their backs against the wall, so it’ll be interesting to see how Luck handles NFL opponents and tough situations.
The other annoying part of the “Suck for Luck” sweepstakes is how members of the media continue to wonder who will win the sweepstakes.
They bring up the idiotic idea that teams may or should try to lose games in order to win the “franchise” quarterback. I can understand how fans may want to earn the top pick in the draft to take Luck, but I can guarantee no NFL team even considers this idea.
It’s very difficult to become a coach in the NFL, and just one lousy season can be all it takes to lose that position. Teams are impatient these days; even the worst teams in the NFL want to turn things around in a very short span of time.
The Detroit Lions have been a perennial loser in the league the past few decades until this season. But since 2000 the Lions have had seven different coaches. The most time any of those coaches received was three seasons to revive the franchise, but others had even less time to prove themselves as head coaches.
NFL owners are known to be impatient with head coaches regardless of the situation and talent the coach has to work with.
Every coach in the NFL wants to win to not only improve his team, but to save his job. None of them are drooling over the fact that Luck will be available in next year’s draft at least until the regular season is almost finished.
The Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins are the only winless teams that remain this season. It’s a good possibility that one of these teams could land the coveted Luck.
Regardless of where Luck lands one thing is for sure: teams will not intentionally “Suck for Luck” and the overused phrase needs to be put to rest.
