It Sucks to be Andrew Luck

It has to be a little disheartening for some guys. You work your butt off your entire life. You spend hours watching game film and working out while your buddies are going out and partying. You sacrifice and give your heart and soul for the team, from pee wee through high school and on into college. You win games, trophies, and championships while earning the adoration of thousands if not millions of fans, students, and alumni.

You become the best in the game; a man among men. When it is all said and done what do you get in return?

A job with the worst football team in the NFL.

On the surface it appears that former Stanford quarterback and future NFL punching bag Andrew Luck is looking a charmed life square in the eyes. Yes, the money the young man is soon going to be paid by Jim Irsay and the Indianapolis Colts—not to mention a healthy slew of endorsement deals-- is insane.

It still sucks to be him, and here are a few reasons why:

The Colts suck now and will suck in the near future. Losing a franchise QB like Peyton Manning last season was tough; at the amount he was going to cost it was a no-brainer that the team cut him loose. With the next Golden Boy coming to town the future was looking bright, too. Not anymore though.

You can have all the talent in the world, but that matters little if you have no other play makers around you. Apparently the Colts were not happy with the cap space that was cleared up releasing Manning and opted to get rid of the rest of the players everyone loves—namely defensive stalwart Gary Brackett, tight end Dallas Clark, safety Melvin Bullitt, running back Joseph Addai, and quarterback Curtis Painter.

Okay, so no one will miss Curtis, but the rest of the guys hurt. The defense was atrocious last year without Brackett and Bullitt. While there were a couple of guys that stepped up, there was certainly not enough to release Melvin and Gary. Donald Brown is not the answer at running back, and the wide receiver corps is now composed of Austin "oh my head hurts" Collie, Pierre "woops, I dropped it again" Garcon, and Anthony "yes, I'm injured again" Gonzalez.

Supporters are likely thinking that at least he's in the NFL, maybe someone will emerge, and he's making a pretty penny in the process.

All the money in the world will matter little when the man can't walk up the stairs or has to live at the chiropractor's office due to the beating he's going to take in the NFL. The offensive line for the Colts is just bad and is only going to get worse when the only two players with talent—Ryan Diem and Jeff Saturday—retire.

The group looked more like the NFL version of a Mash Unit last season with the number of injuries suffered causing the team to take whoever didn't have a job in order to field a line. Their inability to gel as a unit resulted in Kerry Collins being reminded why he retired and gave Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky a good beating as well.

Unless Jim Irsay uses all the cap space he's created dumping fan favorites to get a real offensive line in town, the future Golden Boy, Mr. Andrew Luck, is going to resemble another highly touted quarterback—David Carr.

Best of luck to you Andrew, you goofy looking rascal. You're going to need it.

Article by Travis Pulver