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- Mar 19, 2019
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INDIANAPOLIS — As a former FCS linebacker hailing from tiny Lake View, S.C., Darius Leonard had everything to prove as an NFL rookie in 2018.
After then leading the entire league in tackles and being named First-Team All-Pro, what didn’t the young Indianapolis Colts star prove?
Leonard made such an impression on the NFL landscape that many already consider him among the best linebackers in the game.
Recently, both Doug Farrar from Touchdown Wire and The MMQB Podcast’s Andy Benoit and Gary Grambling had Leonard as their third-ranked linebacker in the league. Here is what Farrar had to say:
“Well, this was a surprise. Selected in the second round out of South Carolina State, Leonard won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award, was the AFC Defensive Player of the Week in weeks 2 and 17, and was the AFC Defensive Player of the Month in December. From the start of his rookie season, Leonard proved to be a force multiplier in a Colts front seven in desperate need of one. He led the NFL in among linebackers with 141 solo tackles, 66 stops, five forced fumbles, and 110 targets. Among those targets, he allowed 93 receptions for 942 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It was one of the most prolific seasons by a first-year linebacker in NFL history.
“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.”