Indianapolis Colts: Are People Too Hard on Andrew Luck?

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck signed a six-year, $140 million blockbuster contract extension. Despite a down year in 2015, does Luck deserve a lot of the criticism thrown his way from both the media and the mass?

Earlier in the week, I had written in regards as to whether or not Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck was deserving of possibly being the wealthiest player in the history of the National Football League, as an extension was looming and very likely to come within the next few weeks.

Wednesday afternoon, Colts owner Jim Irsay was the first to break the news that the team had signed Luck through 2021.

Andrew has signed through 2021
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) June 29, 2016

The record-breaking contract extension included $87 million in guaranteed money — also the highest amount of guaranteed money in a contract in league history.

Luck’s extension will pay him $75 million over the course of three seasons, with an average salary of $25 million every year — surpassing Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco‘s $22.5 million salary in 2016.

Given how important that Luck is to the Colts, this may very well be a fitting contract for the 26-year-old quarterback. After all, he did take a Colts team that was in a complete rebuild and transformed them into an 11-win and playoff team his rookie season, just one year removed from a 2-14 record.

Of course, some have even criticized such a large contract being handed to Luck due to the fact that he has had a slight issue with controlling his turnovers since entering the league in 2012.

Others seem edgy due to Luck’s wildly inconsistent 2015 — a season in which he missed nine total games due to multiple injuries.

Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report recently wrote a column defending the criticism of Luck.

“We have never in football history seen anything like this. Quarterbacks have long been valuable, but now they are irreplaceable. Great ones like Luck are like the men who walked on the moon—the rarest of commodities.”

Freeman went further in depth as to whether or not Luck is worth his contract.

"Consider, as Schefter reported, that the previous highest guarantees were $65 million given to Eli Manning and Philip Rivers. That was not so long ago. Luck bettered those by more than $20 million.Is Luck worth it? Hell yes, he’s worth it.Last year’s struggles for Luck were an anomaly. He’ll be back and dominating yet again. If you think Luck won’t return to prominence, you don’t know the sport.To the Colts, his value is that he’s a magnificent draw because of the name. To television, the same. To the billion-dollar fantasy industry, ditto."

Freeman may oftentimes say things that many don’t agree with, but he makes a good point about Luck’s 2015 campaign being a fluke mostly given that the Colts were without him for over half of the season.

Perhaps his best game of the year came when he was playing fully healthy with his new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski after the firing of Pep Hamilton midway through the season. The Colts would go on to defeat the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos at home that game, scoring nearly 30 points.

People tend to forget that the Colts fell just three points shy in overtime during an away game against the undefeated Carolina Panthers roughly halfway through the year — who fell to the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

With that being said, Luck has shown the Colts that when he is fully healthy, the Colts can hang with just about anybody in the league — something that’s been apparent since his 2012 rookie campaign.

Next: Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck Signs New, Lucrative Contract

The Colts locked up their future in Luck for the long haul, and it may have been worth every penny.

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