The Colts continue to talk about their desire to sign quarterback Andrew Luck to a lucrative, long-term deal this offseason.
They don’t say that they’d like to see Luck on the field more often over the term of that extension than he was during a 2015 season that saw him miss nine games because of shoulder and rib injuries. The rib injury came while Luck was hit while scrambling in Week Nine against the Broncos and one thing the Colts would like to see in the future is Luck take better care of himself on such plays.
Owner Jim Irsay said this week that Luck “has the responsibility to make educated decisions to protect himself” and one of those decisions has to do with when it’s better to slide rather than take a hit.
“One thing we did talk about internally was to make sure he does have the slide down,” Irsay said, via ESPN.com. “If we have to bring in a baseball player or baseball coach to talk about sliding. [Seahawks quarterback] Russell Wilson is a baseball player, and when he slides, he does it so naturally. Andrew’s struggled a little bit more, but I think that’s just his competitive nature saying, ‘Do I shut it down or get those 2 extra yards?’ His competitive nature just gets to him.”
Keeping Luck free from harm is about more than just sliding, of course. The Colts need to do a better job of protecting him when he’s dropping back to pass as well and they’ve yet to make an offseason addition to an offensive line that struggled on that front last year.
