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Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay issued a stern warning amid reports that the Washington Commanders reached out to retired former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck about his availability last season.
"If any NFL team attempted to contact Andrew Luck (or any associate of him) ... to play for their Franchise -- it would be a clear violation of the League's Tampering Policy," Irsay tweeted on Sunday (May 7).
Luck, 33, retired abruptly before the 2019 season with three years remaining on his contract with the Colts, which means the franchise would still own his rights if he did decide to come out of retirement.
On Saturday (May 6), ESPN reported that Washington made several attempts to learn if the former four-time Pro Bowler had any interest in returning to the NFL in 2022, though it was unclear who, specifically, the team had contacted about Luck's status. A source within the Colts organization said the nature of the conversations wasn't clear, but the franchise is investigating what transpired and whether the incident was a tampering violation.
The NFL's anti-tampering policy states that direct contact with a player is not required for an incident to be considered a violation.
"Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club's player to that player's agent or representative, or to a member of the news media, is a violation," a portion of the policy states via ESPN.
Luck has publicly stated that he has no intention of returning to the NFL after announcing his retirement at the age of 29. The report also came nine days after the Colts selected Anthony Richardson at No. 4 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft, marking the first time the team had used a first-round pick at the quarterback since Luck was selected at No. 1 overall in 2012.
The report also comes just weeks after disgraced Commanders owner Dan Snyder reached an agreement to sell the team.