This week, Andrew Luck was spotted at Indianapolis Colts practice throwing a football for the first time in quite a while. Reports out of Colts camp were joyous and Luck himself said there is no doubt that he'll be ready to go for Week 1 of the 2018 season.
IT’S HAPPENING OMG OMG pic.twitter.com/VyCR6llLRW
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) June 12, 2018
Andrew Luck exits practice. I’d say about 20-25 throws. As deep as 20 yards. He looked at ease.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) June 12, 2018
Exactly what the Colts (not to mention their fans) wanted to see before minicamp breaks.
Luck on if he’ll be ready for Week 1: “Absolutely. No knock on wood. I believe it in my bones.”
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) June 12, 2018
One minor issue there: Luck was not actually throwing a regulation football. He was throwing a high school football. And he told Pro Football Talk's PFT Live that he had a "mental block" to throwing a real NFL football.
Luck admitted that, during his still-ongoing rehab, he had a "little mental block" to throwing a regulation football.
As explained on Wednesday's PFT Live, Luck isn't a golfer who can simply avoid using a club that's giving him trouble. He's got one tool in the kit, a full-sized NFL football bearing the autograph of the Commissioner and the words "The Duke." Any NFL quarterback who ever has a "little mental block" when it comes to throwing a regulation NFL football has a very real and profound problem.
That seems like a not insignificant issue. A professional football quarterback obviously needs to be able to throw a professional-sized football if he wants to play professional football. So while Luck throwing at minicamp was certainly a positive sign, it looks like the Colts may not be out of the woods here just yet. Once we get the report that Luck is throwing regulation footballs, that'll be our best sign yet that he may indeed be ready to play for the first time since Jan. 1, 2017.
