Andrew Luck has been sidelined at training camp with a calf injury. At first it doesn't sound like it'd be a huge deal, except for the fact it's been bothering him for the past three months. So yeah, I think it's something that at least needs to be in the back of people's minds.
"The nature of it is a calf strain," Luck told reporters. "And I say lower leg because I feel pain in my ankle area and calf. I've had images and X-rays and my Achilles is not at extra risk. There is no tear or swelling in there or anything that's indicated."
OK, am I the only one who's a little concerned here? In the space of four sentences, Luck refers to pain in both his ankle area and calf, which seems like a little more than a calf injury. In passing, he mentions his Achilles, only to point out that it is not at extra risk. I kind of wish he hadn't mentioned it at all.
Luck has been ruled out of the first preseason game, although Frank Reich indicated he wouldn't have played in that one anyway.
The season is still more than five weeks away, so there's plenty of time to get Luck on the field and practicing. Some fantasy coaches will look at this story and say, Hey, I'm going to have a chance to get one of the game's best fantasy quarterbacks at a discount. Because he definitely is that.
Over the last five years, no quarterback has been a better fantasy quarterback on a per-game basis than Luck. (That's with a minimum of 40 starts; if we went with a minimum of 16 starts, Luck would be 3rd, behind Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.) But among guys in the lineup for more than a season's worth of games, no one has been better than Luck.
| TOP FANTASY QUARTERBACKS, 2014-2018, PER GAME (40+ STARTS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | PYd | TDP | RYd | TDR | 2Pt | FFPts |
| Andrew Luck | 54 | 286.6 | 2.31 | 17.7 | .09 | .09 | 26.1 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 71 | 264.0 | 2.11 | 19.4 | .13 | .14 | 24.6 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 72 | 301.5 | 1.96 | 3.0 | .06 | .26 | 24.1 |
| Cam Newton | 75 | 228.9 | 1.57 | 37.0 | .40 | .08 | 24.0 |
| Drew Brees | 78 | 299.4 | 2.01 | 1.7 | .13 | .01 | 24.0 |
| Russell Wilson | 80 | 239.4 | 1.80 | 32.8 | .15 | .05 | 23.4 |
| Tom Brady | 76 | 281.1 | 2.08 | 3.1 | .07 | .04 | 23.2 |
| Matt Ryan | 80 | 290.6 | 1.78 | 7.4 | .05 | .08 | 22.8 |
| Kirk Cousins | 69 | 274.4 | 1.72 | 6.8 | .20 | .07 | 22.7 |
| Jameis Winston | 54 | 264.5 | 1.57 | 14.2 | .17 | .09 | 22.1 |
| Carson Palmer | 44 | 284.3 | 1.84 | 2.3 | .02 | .02 | 22.0 |
| Philip Rivers | 80 | 278.6 | 1.91 | 2.1 | .00 | .08 | 21.9 |
| Carson Wentz | 40 | 253.8 | 1.75 | 13.6 | .05 | .18 | 21.7 |
| Dak Prescott | 48 | 226.6 | 1.40 | 19.7 | .38 | .04 | 21.2 |
| Matthew Stafford | 80 | 263.4 | 1.60 | 7.9 | .06 | .05 | 20.8 |
| Blake Bortles | 73 | 238.1 | 1.38 | 23.6 | .12 | .10 | 20.7 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 49 | 239.3 | 1.57 | 15.2 | .12 | .00 | 20.5 |
| Eli Manning | 79 | 261.3 | 1.66 | 1.6 | .04 | .04 | 20.2 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 46 | 199.2 | 1.13 | 36.1 | .30 | .07 | 20.0 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 56 | 236.2 | 1.55 | 13.6 | .07 | .04 | 19.9 |
| Andy Dalton | 72 | 232.5 | 1.50 | 9.6 | .15 | .06 | 19.6 |
| Alex Smith | 71 | 232.0 | 1.25 | 19.8 | .14 | .06 | 19.6 |
| Marcus Mariota | 55 | 216.4 | 1.25 | 22.2 | .22 | .05 | 19.5 |
| Joe Flacco | 67 | 249.3 | 1.36 | 3.7 | .12 | .09 | 19.2 |
| Derek Carr | 78 | 240.2 | 1.56 | 5.3 | .01 | .12 | 19.1 |
| Jay Cutler | 49 | 228.5 | 1.47 | 9.1 | .06 | .10 | 18.8 |
| Case Keenum | 46 | 233.2 | 1.17 | 7.0 | .09 | .02 | 17.6 |
I love Luck, particularly in his pairing with Reich and the Colts offense. In fact, I already drafted him in a best-ball league with no transactions, so I hope he's OK. Too early to be particularly concerned.
But I won't rest easy with that selection until I see him out there in the preseason, third exhibition perhaps, taking the offense down the field for 2-3 series. Until that happens, I think this calf/ankle/not-Achilles issue needs to be monitored. I won't be 100 percent comfortable selecting him until he gets a clean bill of health.
--Andy Richardson