Talker: Sadness yet freedom for early retiree Luck

The sports world is filled with plenty of surprises, but the nature of the news cycle means there are few true shocks these days.

But shock is the best word to describe Saturday's news that Colts star quarterback Andrew Luck is retiring a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday — the result of an accumulation of injuries sucking the joy out of the sport for him.

It's tempting to declare that Luck will start a trend, but NFL stars retiring young is not a new thing. Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson are good examples of others who did it at various points.

What's not up for debate is this: NFL players in 2019 are as wealthy as they have been at any point in the sport's history. They are as…