Seven Colts Make Touchdown Wire’s Top 100 Players List

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Mar 19, 2019
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59. Darius Leonard, LB, Indianapolis Colts


"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.”
 
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