Andrew Luck tampering dispute between Colts and Commanders finally gets resolved, per report

Earlier this month, it looked like the Washington Commanders might be in some hot water for possibly tampering with Andrew Luck, but as it turns out, the team didn’t do anything illegal. 

According to ESPN.com, it has been determined that the Commanders “never spoke to Luck or anyone in his immediate circle” while they were looking for a new quarterback last year. The Commanders won’t be punished and the Colts are apparently satisfied with this resolution. 

The subject of tampering became an issue on May 6 after an ESPN.com story stated that the Commanders were so desperate for a quarterback during the 2022 offseason that they “even phoned about retired Andrew Luck.” 

The May 6 story didn’t make it clear who the Commanders called when they “phoned” about Luck, but the whole idea of the Commanders trying to contact Luck left a bad taste in Jim Irsay’s mouth. First, he sent out a warning shot on Twitter to let other teams know that they’re not allowed to contact Luck. 

Not only did Irsay send out the tweet, but he also called NFL comissioner Roger Goodell because he wanted to make sure that the league looked into any possible tampering violations committed by the Commanders, according to ESPN. 

The reason it’s tampering for a team to call Luck is because the Colts still own his rights. When Luck retired in August 2019, he still had three years left on his contract and if he ever comes back to the NFL, his contract will be reinstated and the Colts will own his rights for those three remaining years. This means that teams are NOT allowed to contact Luck unless they go through the Colts first. 

If any team gets caught trying to contact Luck, they could potentially get hit with a big punishment. In August 2022, the Dolphins got docked two draft picks, including a 2023 first-rounder, for tampering with Tom Brady. 

Of course, even if a team got permission to talk to Luck, there’s almost a zero percent chance he’d agree to make a comeback and that’s because he seems pretty content in retirement.