Colts would love Andrew Luck to come back but don’t count on it

The Colts are once again looking for a quarterback. Philip Rivers has retired and Jacoby Brissett is a free agent.

The team will have their fifth opening day starter in five years in 2021.

Andrew Luck’s surprising retirement ahead of the 2019 season left them one-year starters at Brissett and then Rivers the last two seasons. Would Luck, who is only 31, consider coming out of retirement?

The Colts should at least find out.

“It’s kind of like that: Andrew is retired,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said Wednesday, via FOX 59’s Mike Chappell.

But the Colts would welcome Luck with open arms if he decided to return.

“He knows we’d love to find him,” Irsay said. But only he can answer this question deep in his heart and soul: ‘Hey, do I really want to come back and be a quarterback for the Colts in the NFL again? “It’s easy for us. He knows how much we would love him to be our quarterback.

“I don’t really know if we’ll see this. I think he’s happy. He is raising his daughter. He has a wonderful family. He’s a great colt. He knows he can come back at any time, but at the same time, we respect that he made that decision. ”

Irsay looks like the Colts, with a roster ready to win now, would prefer a veteran. That could mean Matthew Stafford, that the Lions will trade this offseason.

Stafford has played 12 but is only 32 and turns 33 next month, so he could be the short- and long-term answer for a team in that position.

“Our belief is that we are close,” Irsay said. “We have a great core of players who can compete for the Super Bowl very soon. Ideally, if you can bring someone in this year and several years after that is ready, that gives you the best opportunity, and you don’t have to have that much of a maturing aspect to see them develop and reach. this level. which they need to get to and get to the Super Bowl and win it.

“We’ll just have to see where the opportunity pushes us. We’d love to get a great young quarterback, and obviously there are some we’ve talked about coming out in this draft. ”