Wise or Ill-Advised? Luck Stays in School

In response to: Andrew Luck will stay at Stanford

Andrew Luck, everyone's consensus #1 overall pick in this spring's NFL draft and quite possibly the most complete QB to come out since Peyton Manning, has decided to return to Stanford for his Junior season. Oh how discouraged the Carolina Panthers must be after hearing this. The decision severely diminishes the leverage the Panthers had with their numero uno pick. We’re talking potentially Herschel Walker, Ricky Williams, Eli Manning draft day, one-sided trade type leverage. Buffalo, San Francisco, Minnesota, Tennessee, Miami, Arizona and Seattle are all teams that could be looking to draft a young signal caller. Odds are that one of the aforementioned teams would cave and spend way too much for the 6’4 235 lb (and growing) flame thrower.

How good do people think Andrew Luck will be? CBS Sports draft analyst Rob Rang called him the best prospect he has ever scouted. Talk about high praise! Only time – roughly five years from now – will tell if he’ll live up to these lofty expectations but, in the meantime, did Luck make the right decision? I say no. Kudos to him for returning to school in pursuit of his Engineering Degree in Architectural Design. After all, he was one of the highest rated QBs coming out of high school – being swooned by all of the big names – but chose Stanford because of its reputation as a top flight educational institution, first and foremost. He may also be inspired at the thought of winning that elusive BCS National Championship. Again, I commend him for trying to leave a winner but the cons supersede said pros:

Con #1: Luck may have lost himself a great deal of money. The major sticking point in the negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA for a new Collective Bargaining agreement is rookie salaries – i.e. the owners are tired of paying unproven kids astronomical figures in guaranteed money with nothing resembling assurance that this investment will render positive results on the field (See – Jamarcus Russell). Assuming there is, in fact, football next year, it’s hard to believe that Luck will receive as much money as he would this year.

Con #2: He may lose the luster associated with being the #1 overall pick. Who’s to say that another young QB in the College ranks won’t surpass Luck as the next big thing next year? Ask Matt Leinart how that feels.

Con #3: Risk of injury. Self-explanatory.

Con #4: Jim Harbaugh is a goner. Harbaugh will go pro and, more than likely, will take his talents to South Beach – a la Lebron James. It is hard to quantify the effect that Harbaugh had on Luck but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that he elevated the level of his players during his tenure with the Cardinal given the drastic improvement in results. Who’s to say that his successor will have the same success?

Blog – 1 year, 4 months ago by mattzilla to Football. 847 views, 3 likes.