Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard is coming off of a historic rookie season that saw him rack up insane production that resulted in several accolades.
Earning both a First-Team All-Pro selection and the 2018 Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Leonard wound up leading the league in combined tackles (163) and solo tackles (111) despite missing one game due to injury and dealing with an ankle injury throughout the majority of the second half.
Leonard is already being listed among the top linebackers in the league as Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire ranked him third-best in the NFL at the position.
“At 6-2 and 234 pounds, Leonard is credited with 4.7 speed, but he’s much faster on the field, and that’s what really pops out when you watch his tape. He can cover sideline to sideline as a big safety would, but he tackles very much like an old-school linebacker. And his diagnostic abilities, which impress for a fifth-year player — never mind a rookie — allow him to be in the right place at the right time, nearly all the time. Leonard may have come out of nowhere in a relative sense, but nothing about his 2018 season was a fluke.”
The Colts defense was a major question mark entering the 2018 season, but Leonard’s emergence changed all that. He’s become the centerpiece of the unit and one of the brightest building blocks for Chris Ballard to construct the defensive roster around.
What makes Leonard’s prolific rookie campaign even more impressive is the fact that he was able to make such an impact and produce such fantastic numbers all while battling through an ankle injury that eventually would need a procedure during the offseason.
The Colts defense added plenty of depth this offseason through free agency and the draft, but Leonard will continue to be a force in the middle of the unit.
