NFL training camp
preview: Our 20-page pullout takes an in-depth look at quarterbacks and ranks each projected NFL starter. Plus, inside the Patriots and Seahawks.
Andrew Luck could get better, Page 15
How Redskins might win again with Robert Griffin III, Page 16
One- on-one with Aaron Rodgers, Pages 22-23
Team- by-team overviews, Pages 26-33
Indianapolis Colts locker room, June 2012. At this juncture Andrew Luck is still The New Kid in Town, the top overall draft pick without a single NFL snap on his résumé. He’s the prodigy who must replace a prodigy.
It’s a frenetic afternoon inside the team’s West 56th Street facility — Luck’s first minicamp with his new team has wrapped up minutes before, and most of his teammates are scattering toward summer vacation. But the new quarterback isn’t in a hurry. He makes a point to walk over to the locker of the pass-catcher who will soon become his top target.
His questions for Reggie Wayne that day: Where and when?
Most significant to Luck in those primitive days of his NFL career: Earning his teammates’ respect. It rang especially true for a proven veteran such as Wayne, the established locker room leader and a player who earned Peyton Manning’s respect a decade before. What Luck sought to demonstrate: He was willing to work. And this was Wayne’s team, not his. Not yet.
Luck would travel wherever, whenever, so the two could attempt to form the sort of quarterback-to-receiver rapport that is so vital in today’s pass-happy NFL. So they hashed out a plan, right there in the locker room, while most of the players headed for the exits. Luck took notes on his iPad like a dutiful student. Weeks later the rookie quarterback was in Wayne Country — Miami Beach — throwing and lifting weights with the five-time Pro Bowler. The fruits of their labor came that fall: 1,355 receiving yards for Wayne (the best of his 14 seasons), 4,374 passing yards for Luck (an NFL rookie record), a Pro Bowl nod for each, and most important, 11 wins for the Colts.
Now that Wayne is gone, it is Luck’s team, and his receivers come to him. They rendezvoused twice this summer, once on the Stanford campus — Luck often trains at his alma mater in the offseason — and once in Miami, where new Colts Andre Johnson and Phillip Dorsett hail from. With a flurry of new faces, creating that connection before training camp arrives — just as Wayne and Luck did before their first season together — remains paramount. It gives all involved a leg up when real football starts. And real football starts soon.
“It’s go(ing) to be a scary sight this year,” offered Donte Moncrief, one of the Colts receivers who made the trip to Stanford. “Hard work beats talent.”
Life is good if you’re Luck entering Year 4. Your receiving corps is dripping with talent. Your tight ends are the top young tandem in the game. Frank Gore is in at running back. Your team is legitimate Super Bowl contender. A massive payday awaits.
And you could very well win your first MVP award this season.
Nit-picking Luck’s blossoming career is like fine-tuning a Ferrari. Everything under the hood looks pristine. The numbers: He has thrown for more yards in his first three seasons (12,957) than any other quarterback in NFL history; he has more touchdown passes in his first three seasons (86) than any quarterback not named Dan Marino; he has rushed for 12 more, five shy of Manning’s franchise record for a QB.
On the “Young Quarterbacks Your Team Would Love to Have,” list, Luck’s name stands alone. He has done everything this franchise has asked of him, which has been no small feat. Remember: He had to replace Manning.
The Colts trotted out 11 different line combinations last season; Luck never blinked, and the Colts’ offense kept rolling. They finished tops in the NFL in passing yards. Luck led the league with 40 touchdowns. Consider: He has been sacked 100 times since entering the league in 2012. How high would that figure be if Luck weren’t one of the game’s great improvisers? It’s a scary thought.
But don’t tell Luck this. He’ll cite the areas in which he must improve, and he knows them like the back of his hand: For starters, his interception ratio and the team’s red-zone efficiency. The Colts were mediocre in both categories last season despite boasting the league’s top aerial attack. Luck’s interceptions rose from nine in 2013 to 16 last season. The Colts were 12th in red-zone efficiency. Too often, drives stalled. Too often, they settled for field goals. Or worse.
“It’s not OK to force the ball,” he said this spring. “Take a sack, or let’s let the best punter in football go out there, or throw the ball away. Let’s play another down.”
His paltry completion percentage — 61.7% — left him 23rd in the league last year. But that stat is misleading. The Colts attempted the sixth-most passes in the NFL; the team had no semblance of a consistent run game, and more than a handful of Luck’s passes were right on the money, only to get dropped. The Colts led the league in dropped passes last season, with 50.
Still there is room to grow for the young quarterback. It could be the next step for Luck, who has taken so many in so little time.
But that’s the fun part. How much better can he get?