Kevin Gorman: Why the Steelers aren't shocked by Andrew Luck's retirement

Stunning as it was to see a franchise quarterback walk away from football in the prime of his career, to say Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement Saturday from the Indianapolis Colts sent shockwaves around the NFL isn’t entirely accurate.

Not to the Pittsburgh Steelers, anyway. Players were more supportive of his decision than surprised, especially the two Steelers who call Luck a former teammate.

“I wasn’t too shocked at all,” said right guard David DeCastro, a friend of Luck’s since their days at Stanford. “I don’t think people understand the physical and mental toll — maybe more mental than physical — that you go through. It’s not just during the season. It’s all year.

“You always think about the pressure, the pain. This game is hard enough to play when you’re healthy, but to go through the rehab process and having injuries? When you’re not having fun, then it makes a lot of sense.”

Luck’s decision has been the NFL’s hot-button topic this week, as the four-time Pro Bowl pick called it quits at age 29 — and just two weeks before the start of the season. This was after missing the 2017 season after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder and returning to pass for 4,593 yards and 39 touchdowns last season to lead the Colts to the AFC playoffs and win NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

But the game took a physical toll on Luck, as his laundry list of injuries includes torn cartilage in two ribs, a partially torn abdomen, lacerated kidney, a concussion, the torn labrum and the ankle/calf injury that sidelined him this preseason.

So four years of pain and what Luck called the “rehab cycle” took a mental toll. Retiring wasn’t a sign of weakness. It required strength for Luck to listen to his body as it was breaking down, to put his love for himself ahead of the game.

Colts owner Jim Irsay estimated Luck, the 2012 No. 1 overall pick who has earned $109 million his career, is forfeiting about $450 million in future career earnings. So Luck had a half-billion reasons to continue his career.

No one should be questioning Luck’s toughness.

“He’s a tough guy, man,” said Steelers wide receiver Donte Moncrief, who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Colts. “He’s not a quarterback to just fall down. He likes contact.

“He did what was best for him. He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t. He loved the game, so it had to be something serious that was bothering him. I’m proud for him. He’s a great guy, a great quarterback and I wish him the best of luck.”

But when Colts fans booed Luck on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium?

Now that was shocking to Moncrief.

“Seeing that was crazy,” Moncrief said, “just because of all that he did for that city, on and off the field.”

It was a sign the sports world has lost perspective, with season-ticket holders putting the entitlement of their investment ahead of Luck’s health, and critics calling him soft.

DeCastro drew attention this week for saying people treat players like “circus animals,” and he didn’t back down from the comment Tuesday inside the Steelers locker room.

“It’s interesting being on the other side of the curtain, if you will, being an entertainer,” said DeCastro, a four-time Pro Bowl pick and two-time All-Pro. “I think it’s become more entertainment than sports, really. I love this game. I love the job that I have. People can view me whatever they want to view me. You have to have some tough skin when it comes to that.”

Luck has to have tough skin to ignore the criticism. That’s the kind of conviction Jim Brown and Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson had in retiring from the NFL in their prime, leaving behind fame and fortune despite record-setting careers.

“Everyone looks at it when you’re young like money, money, money,” DeCastro said. “In some ways, the money becomes not a motivating factor for some people. It’s the goal for everyone to get to, but when that happens, it’s easier to walk away.

“There’s a reason it’s a shocking decision: It’s because he’s a good player. If he wasn’t a good player, nobody would be talking about it.”

Instead of talking about his toughness, we should shift the narrative to this: Football involves pleasure and pain. When playing in pain caused a franchise quarterback to lose his love for the game, we should be less shocked by Luck’s decision to retire than had he chosen to continue the circus act.

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