INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Luck last season made his return to the football field after a year away. And now he's back to being considered by his peers as one of the best players in the league.
One year after being completely left out, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback tonight was revealed as the 20th-best player in the league in the NFL Network's "Top 100 Players of 2019" list, which is voted on by players across the NFL.
Luck is the fourth Colts player to make this year's "Top 100" list; previous selections were linebacker Darius Leonard (No. 26), tight end Eric Ebron (No. 66) and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (No. 70). The four selections are the most for the Colts since 2014 (4).
That Andrew Luck wasn't on the "Top 100 Players of 2018" list at this time last offseason was somewhat understandable, given his uncertain status as he continued to work his way back from a right shoulder surgery that costed him the entire 2017 season.
But Luck was able to handle a full load in practice by the first day of training camp last July, and he kept improving from there. By season's end, he had turned in perhaps his best all-around season in the NFL by completing 430-of-639 passes for 4,593 yards with 39 touchdowns to 15 interceptions.
Luck set single-season career highs in completions, attempts, completion percentage and passer rating. Luck's passing yards and passing touchdowns were the second-best marks of his career.
He ranked in the top-five in the NFL in passing touchdowns (second), attempts (second), completions (second) and yards (fifth).
Also, from Weeks 4-12, Luck threw three or more touchdown passes in eight consecutive games, which was the longest streak in the NFL last season and tied for the second-longest in league history.
For his efforts, Luck was named the Associated Press' NFL Comeback Player of the Year, becoming just the third player in team history to win the award, joining Jim Martin (1963) and Lenny Moore (1964). Luck was also named to his fourth Pro Bowl.
This is Luck's sixth-career appearance on a "Top 100 Players" list; he had previously been selected in 2013 (No. 23), 2014 (No. 30), 2015 (No. 7), 2016 (No. 92) and 2017 (No. 51).
