Andrew Luck Staying at Stanford!

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is staying for another season of college football and breaking the hearts of Carolina Panther fans. With Andrew Luck staying at Stanford the Panthers now have to put some thinking into the first pick in the 2011 draft.

Even though Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh is probably headed to the NFL, quarterback Andrew Luck is staying in school. Luck has given the importance of his education as the deciding factor in his staying at Stanford.

Carolina Panthers fans are in shock as many had deemed Andrew Luck as the chosen one to lead the franchise back to respectability. For several weeks sports radio in Charlotte has been abuzz with talk of Andrew Luck and what he would mean to the Carolina Panthers.

Now the reason being given for Andrew Luck staying at Stanford is to continue his education. And for the most part I believe that. 2011 if there is a season will be the last season without a rookie salary cap in all probability. So Andrew Luck passed up on some big bucks if as rumored there will be no rookie salary cap in 2011.

However with no rookie salary cap the number one overall draft pick becomes valuable again as I explained on Sportsyapp radio out of Charlotte today in a call. Good teams will be more willing to trade up to get the number one pick if they won't be saddled with a huge salary spent on an unproven player.

So what Andrew Luck has accomplished is to get a full season at Stanford to improve his game, continues his education and sets himself up for playing for a good team. As far as bad teams go he could have done worse than the Carolina Panthers, at least the weather is good. But now Andrew Luck may be able to join a better team that is willing to trade up to get him in 2012.

Some Carolina Panthers fans have been clamoring for Cam Newton even before Andrew Luck announced he is staying at Stanford. I don't see Cam Newton being the number one overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft. I will soon update my 2011 NFL mock draft to show the Panthers picking a non quarterback.

Cam Newton's character concerns, the computer incident and alleged cheating in school aside, he isn't that proven to be a number one overall NFL draft pick. As you can see here the spread offense hurts college quarterbacks wanting to play pro ball.

I don't see the Panthers selecting a quarterback now that Andrew Luck is staying at Stanford. But the team may go for Mallet just to add a qb to the mix because Jimmy Clausen isn't the answer.