INDIANAPOLIS -- Andrew Luck still isn't throwing a regulation football, and the Colts quarterback isn't revealing the timetable on when that will happen. What Luck would say, though, is that he wants to head into training camp this summer with no limitations on his surgically repaired shoulder.
"There is a timetable, but I'm not going to share it with you guys," Luck said Monday. "I've very, very confident and very, very optimistic I'm going to be absolutely fine and come back better than I was. I'll be a better quarterback, a better teammate, a better person."
Luck said the media won't see him do much during offseason workouts, which conclude with the team's mandatory veteran minicamp in mid-June. Luck, talking to the media for the first time since Dec. 29, was adamant in saying he does not plan to skip any steps during his current rehab. That's part of the reason Luck and the Colts have taken a cautious approach on when he will throw. The quarterback has been working with a reduced-sized football to work on his throwing motion.
"There's a process," Luck said. "I've gone and skipped steps before and paid for it. Been in pain and not able to help the team. Embarrassed, guilty, whatever. I'm not going to do that again. I trust the people I'm working with. More importantly, I trust myself in this process. I trust how I feel. Progress is my guiding light. If I'm making progress, I know that's important. There is a plan in place, and I'll keep trusting it."
Luck's right shoulder injury has been the focal point of the Colts organization since he underwent surgery in January 2017. Last year, he missed all of the team's offseason workouts, training camp and eventually the entire season. Luck practiced for a couple of weeks in the middle of October before the team shut him down and gave him a cortisone shot because of continued soreness. He spent about six weeks in the Netherlands rehabbing his shoulder late last year and has spent the early part of 2018 working with throwing experts in Southern California.
"I wouldn't say [I'm] changing my throwing motion," Luck said. "There are things in my throwing motion that I can do better from the ground up, and that's a big part of what I've been working on, making sure I'm using my body as effectively as possible to throw a football and not over- or under-compensate in any way."
The ultimate goal is to have Luck return to being the quarterback who didn't miss a meaningful snap during his first three seasons in the NFL while leading the Colts went to the playoffs in each of those seasons. He has missed 26 games over the past three seasons -- all seasons in which the Colts failed to make the playoffs -- since he originally injured his shoulder in Week 3 of the 2015 season.
"I guess there is a certain amount of guilt that I've lived with for not being able to play this past year," Luck said. "Not being out there for the team, and it sounds a little corny and a little cheesy. It was very difficult. I've put a lot of my self-worth in being available for this team and being the best I could for this team. That maybe is not the healthiest thing in the world to do.
"When I wasn't available and I couldn't help the team, and when I maybe felt like I was being a bit of a distraction, that was hard for me to handle. [It] provided also some good learning opportunities. I believe I'll come back a better player and ... a better teammate, a better person."