In late 2012, when Russell Wilson was emerging as a candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, I put together a chart comparing him to Andrew Luck in games against seven common opponents. Wilson had fared better by wide margins in key statistical categories. Wilson had a 16-1 ratio of touchdown passes to interceptions, compared to 13-12 for Luck. Wilson averaged an additional yard per pass attempt, had a higher passer rating (115.6 to 74.9) and was better in Total QBR as well.
But if you had spoken with NFL coaches and personnel people throughout the league at that time, I feel confident saying zero of them would have traded Luck for Wilson. When I recently asked 26 coaches and personnel people to grade all 32 starting quarterbacks on a 1-5 scale for my QB Tiers project, Luck was the only QB to join Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees in the first tier.
This love for Luck has baffled many of the NFL fans I interact with on various social platforms. They see Luck's obvious talent, but they see comparable production from other QBs. They've also seen Luck suffer eight interceptions in three playoff games. They have a hard time understanding how NFL insiders could consider Luck to be a top-five quarterback at this early stage.
Why so much love for Luck? Let's take a look.
What's not to like?
With Luck, there's really nothing personnel evaluators or coaches would want to change about him -- physically, mentally or in terms of his demeanor. That separates Luck from every other QB in the league.
