No further surgery, Luck says
Andrew Luck cleared up the mystery of just what’s going on inside his shoulder, putting to rest the idea that he might need more surgery and explaining why it’s taking what seems like forever to begin throwing again.
“That’s not an option for me right now,” Luck said of further surgery, speaking via FaceTime at an Indianapolis Colts town hall hosted by SI.com’s Peter King. “That ship has sailed, in my mind, which is also a bit of relief now, if I’m not going to lie.”
Although there have been reports that Luck, who had surgery in January 2017 to repair a torn labrum that had been an issue since 2015, had not yet thrown a football, he explained that he’s still working on strengthening his shoulder and on refining his throwing motion. To that end, he’s been working in California with Tom House and Adam Dedeaux, quarterback gurus who have worked with, among others, Tom Brady.
“I’m in the middle of sort of a little bit of throwing, but strengthening and preparing my shoulder to be able to handle the throw load that is part of being an NFL quarterback,” he said. “The focus right now is still strengthening all those muscles and making sure my shoulder can handle that.”
And that takes time, with a progression that requires patience because it is carefully planned.
“One thing I’ve learned through the last couple of years is you can’t skip steps. You have to do everything as well as possible,” he said. “I have to catch myself, as much as I want to grab a ball and throw it a million times, I know I have to build up to be able to handle that. And right now I’m in that building phase. And it’s exciting.”
Luck’s goal is to be ready when off-season workouts begin in April.
“You know what, I’m hopeful that maybe that could happen,” said Frank Reich, the Colts’ new head coach. “I’m hopeful, yeah. I know it sounds odd, but I’m not demanding an answer on that. I’m not, ‘Hey, someone tell me, is he ready?’ I hope he’s there, but we’ll go on if he’s not. I’m optimistic and I’m hopeful, but honestly. that’s not the forefront question on my mind every day coming to work.”