Colts draft QB Riley Leonard - Round 6, Pick 189
 

https://x.com/JoelAErickson/status/1916226557867131075

https://x.com/ZachHicks2/status/1916225693060411407

Wow! Talk about not being able to evaluate QB's, Leonard couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!

Not too thrilled w/ this pick. If we were set on going w/ a QB here not sure why we would take Leonard over Ewers.

Maybe they want someone with accuracy issues to make AR feel better about himself

I wonder if we would have drafted Howard if he had still been there? Howard is much better than Riley! I think we missed big time, Howard is much better than people think in my opinion!

Wow, we traded down and took Riley? That's some stupid shit Ballard.

I don't understand this pick at all. I guess they didn't like Ewers after their meetings with him though.

I watched a few of Ewers games and was not impressed.

Ewers has far more NFL quality talent as a QB than Riley does. Now are they going to try to convert him to a different position?

they took him as a QB. I assume he will be on the team for a couple years as a 3rd QB and then gone

Can he be a rotational player for when Grover has to take a breather? Didn’t think so. Not sure if there’s any upside to this guy.

upside would be if he is a great QB room guy. there is value in that. but that's about it I imagine. seems like a good dude

o


(vs. JAGUARS, 12/07)


I thought that Leonard played better than his stats showed ...... I thought that he was robbed of a TD by the refs, and I also think that the refs robbed him by charging him with an INT instead of a completed pass on a simultaneous reception by the receiver and the defender.

Taking into consideration everything that happened prior to him entering the game, I thought that Leonard actually played well for a rookie QB with no experience coming into a pressure-packed game on the road in which the team was already significantly behind on the scoreboard ...... plus, as I previously stated, I thought that the referees did him no favors.

o

o


Who Is Riley Leonard ??? Meet the Colts' Fill-in QB After Daniel Jones' Injury

(By Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...y/87658332007/

o

Leonard has no injury designation for Sunday.

I still think we should let him start Sunday. It’s a game we’re unlikely to win anyway, against a really good defense.

Let the kid see what he can do. Let grandpa Rivers get one more week of practice.

o


I'm OK with either one of them starting on Sunday ...... but if Riley's knee still isn't 100%, I would prefer to go with Rivers so that Riley can rest and rehab and be ready for the 49ers the following week.

o

Rivers will start as soon as they think he’s ready and will continue to start from then on unless he gets hurt or sucks.

At least, that’s how I see this going.

Otherwise, why wouldn’t they just come out and say that Leonard will start if he’s healthy?

They can’t say for sure that Rivers will start Sunday because they’re not sure he’ll be ready by then. There’s no other reason for them to not say who’s starting.

rivers is starting


should be a fun watch. I am guessing it won't go well though

I'm ok with Rivers starting over Leonard. He's a tough old bird, and if he flops, so be it. The Seahawks have a strong defense, and are one of the best teams against the rush, so there may not be a lot of help from JT. I'd rather see Rivers fail than Leonard who could suffer irreparable damage to his confidence. We know what Rivers was, we just don't know what he is now.

It is definitely "must see" TV.

I hope it stays 'must see' for more than a quarter of football

o


I was wrong when I thought that Anthony Richardson should have been our starter this season over Daniel Jones.

I hope that I'm wrong about believing that Philip Rivers being our best option heading into the final 3 games of this tumultuous 2025 season ...... I liked what I saw out of Riley Leonard in the game against the Jaguars last week, and I hope that that was just the beginning of a very successful tenure with the Colts for him, whether it be as the team's 1st-string quarterback or the 2nd-string quarterback behind Daniel Jones next year.


Best-case-scenario would be that Leonard plays well next week, and if he does get hurt at any time during the last 3 games of the season, at least we have Philip Rivers waiting in the wings ...... Rivers got his feet wet for the first time in 5 years today, and settled in nicely over the final 3 quarters, all things considered.

o

Not sure how you can be so sure AR wasn't the right man to lead us. DJ was good for a while but was reverting back to who the NY fans said he was before he once again got injured. The dude is just as injury prone as AR (finished all of one season without time our for injury). We are also going to end the season in almost exactly the same spot we were in when we started the season with AR as our QB. If you see improvement this year you have better rose colored glasses than I do. We are even using the same excuses or what ifs. It is almost like doing the same old thing over and over and over again yields the same results.

This is depressing, but true.

o


This is not even close to being debatable.

Before he got injured in the Chiefs game, Jones had a QB rating of 101.6. Even after that, right up until his disastrous final quarter of the Jaguars game he had a QB rating of 100.2 for the season. Jones' completion percentage for the season (including after he broke his left fibula) was 68%. He had 19 TD's and 8 INT's for the season.

Anthony Richardson's QB rating for the 17 games that he played for the Colts in his first 2 seasons was 67.8, and his completion percentage was 50.6. Overall, he had 11 TD's and 13 INT's.

Statistics can be deceiving, but the discrepancy between Daniel Jones in 2025 and Anthonny Richardson in his 17 games that he played for the Colts in 2023 and 21024 is overwhelming.


And if you're saying this this 2025 Colts team is the same old, tired, mediocre team that we've had in the recent past, then that would rule out the argument that Jones was the beneficiary of playing behind a much better team than Anthony Richardson played on (I don't believe this. I believe that this 2025 Colts team is better than the last 4 teams that we've had since the first retirement of Philip Rivers, and I believe that it is MUCH BETTER than almost all of the Giants teams that Jones played for in his first 6 years in the league. Prior to Jones breaking his left fibula, the Colts were stomping bad teams, something that we haven't seen on a consistent basis since Peyton's Manning was here, and they thoroughly outplayed and beat the Chargers on their homefield in Los Angeles. Even yesterday, when they were down to a broken-down, 44 year-old Philip Rivers on offense and their defense had 3 significant players out with injury they barely lost to what may be the best team in the NFL on their homefield in Seattle.)


I've already explained about quarterbacks whose playing careers were like night and day once they were traded from bad teams to good teams (Jim Plunkett, Rich Gannon, Steve Young, etc.), and quite frankly, I'm tired of making this obvious point. Daniel Jones performance this season was a glaring example of a QB who was much better once a good team (in particular, a good offensive line) was put around him.

o

You can site stats all you want. If that is what you care about then you are absolutely correct. All I care about is winning. We have the same record year after year and you make the same argument as to how great and close we are (I know because until recently I was right there with you). At some point the fact that we end up with the same record, no improvement, year after year and just take a slightly different route to get there adds up. We disagree on DJ. I think he had a career year and was average. If everyone around him is perfect he is ok. If he is required to do anything but ordinary we are in trouble. If Ballard/Steichen stay so will DJ most likely and we will get to see if he can actually lead this team anywhere. He won't but you will have a ton of excuses why. Every losing team always does. And fuck you for calling me a troll you piece of shit. I have an opinion that differs from you, oh my god.

o

I apologize for saying that you were trolling. That was uncalled for.

You are an excellent poster, and you are also a more objective poster than I am.


Please forgive me for saying what I said. I'm going to delete that very inappropriate portion of my post.

o

I also apologize. I'm in a really foul mood today about going from 7-1 to this shit. I imagine your mood isn't much better. I appreciate this site as it allows me to vent like the little bitch I am.. Honestly I really don't believe in DJ (I also know and hope I am wrong-like I was the first 8 games) but think with who we have coming back there is a definite chance we can be a defensive powerhouse. I am also not calling for firing anyone as I don't have an answer. All of what folks have written about why we suck is true, I get that. It just keep happening and pisses me off no end.

o


(vs. TEXANS, 1/04)


I thought that the kid looked good again.

Today he was 21-for-34 for 270 Yds, 2 TD's, 1 INT, and a 94.0 Passer Rating.

Even though he fumbled the ball early in the game and then had an excellent pass dropped right in Michael Pittman's hands on a critical 3rd down on the Colts' very next possession, he didn't seem frazzled at all by the failures (his own failures, or the failures of his teammates.)

o

Take that drop and a couple throw aways off the stat and the kid had himself a good day. Throw aways are part of the game for a smart QB, and he seems to be that, even with a small sample size. His ceiling is very good. Its a shame its the last game I wanted to see more.

o


(6 MONTHS LATER)



Why Riley Leonard Has the Inside Track to the Colts’ QB-2 Role

(By Noah Compton)

https://www.si.com/nfl/colts/onsi/wh...colts-qb2-role



The Indianapolis Colts enter year 4 of the Shane Steichen era with another quarterback battle set to take place this summer, but this is not a competition for the team's starting quarterback spot as Daniel Jones has that locked up for the foreseeable future.

The position battle in question will be between Anthony Richardson and Riley Leonard, two quarterbacks still on their rookie contracts.

Richardson entered last summer ready to compete with Jones for the starting role, but after he lost the battle and had his season cut short due to a freak orbital fracture injury in pre-game warm-ups, his outlook as a Colt became bleaker than ever.

On the flip side, Riley Leonard finds himself with a great opportunity entering year two of his NFL career. Not only is he competing for the QB-2 spot within Shane Steichen's offense, but he actually has the inside track to earning said role.

Anthony Richardson's aforementioned season-ending injury, albeit a bizarre situation, was just another footnote in his unfortunate career thus far. In a season where he wasn't playing, Richardson's outlook somehow worsened, whereas Leonard proved in his brief run as a rookie that he at least belongs in the NFL.

Leonard played in 5 games down the stretch, starting his lone game in the season finale against the Houston Texans after the famous 'unretire Philip Rivers' experiment ultimately failed, and the Colts missed the playoffs. Indianapolis would have likely just rolled with Leonard to conclude the season, but he, too, was dealing with a knee injury he suffered in his relief for Daniel Jones in Week 14.

As a rookie, Leonard went 39-67 (58.2%) for 415 passing yards, 2 Passing TD's, and 3 INT's while also adding 2 Rushing TD's and 2 fumbles on the ground.

This wasn't a definitive performance that makes Leonard the quarterback of the future, but it did suggest that Leonard is best suited as the Colts' QB-2 in Shane Steichen's offense, particularly this version that was curated for Daniel Jones and Co.

Leonard spoke about the trials and tribulations he faced as a rookie in a recent interview with J.J. Stankevitz on "The Colts Show", then discussed his mind-set and approach heading into year 2.

"I think last year, coming in, I had no clue what I was doing, what was going on, and, you know, whether I had an opinion or not, or I was right on that opinion, nobody would have taken me seriously last year. So I just kind of kept my mouth shut, went to work, and tried to prove that I knew what I was talking about, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help the team," Leonard said on The Colts Show.

Leonard was open about his rookie season, but now he feels light-years more comfortable entering year 2 of Shane Steichen's offense and is thankful to have a place in that offense, even if it's a secondary role.

"So now that I think that I proved that throughout the year last year, I'm able to have more critical conversations with guys and ask, you know, questions that can really help our offense grow. So, it's cool for me to have a voice now and a platform to speak up," Leonard continued.

"But I think I've, like I said, I'm not taking the approach of 'I'm the guy.' I'm filling in right now for the place of Daniel Jones, and trying to help everybody else on this offense grow."


Shane Steichen's POV of Riley Leonard


Head coach Shane Steichen recently discussed the QB-2 battle in question following OTA's practice on Wednesday and provided some insight into Anthony Richardson's place in it, and dove deeper into Riley Leonard's continued development as an NFL quarterback.

“He’s been really good," Steichen said of Leonard's OTA's performance so far. "He’s got great command in the huddle. He’s continuing to learn the offense, growing in that nature, going through his reads, going through his progressions, working on his accelerated vision and going through that stuff. It’s been good to see."

Riley Leonard previously said that he is trying to take the next step in learning Steichen's offense, specifically the why of it all ...... he wants to know why certain things matter, and why Steichen calls each play.

Coach Steichen acknowledged this strategic effort, and gave a detailed answer on why the why's matter so much.

“Yeah, for sure. I think that those take place in the meetings rooms of how we’re trying to attack certain coverages from a pass game standpoint, from a run game standpoint ...... things we’re looking for, trying to take advantage of," Steichen explained.

"That’s where the accelerated vision will come into play. The more you know the offense and why we’re doing certain things and you see certain looks and certain things on tape that the defenses are doing, obviously you can speed up your process when it comes to that.”

Steichen then followed that up be claiming that he's seen first-hand Leonard digging more into the why of it all throughout the off-season so far, and is excited to see some early dividends already pay off through just 2 practices in OTA's in the books.

“He’s a guy that’s studying like crazy in that classroom, and taking it to the field," Steichen said of Leonard's determination to improve schematically and operationally. "Just the conversations that we have, things popped up today where he made some good plays ...... some conversations that took place, and obviously came to life here on the practice field.”

Daniel Jones is not expected to be fully cleared until at least training camp later this summer, so Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson will have plenty of opportunity to leap-frog ahead of the other in the meantime.

Jones will be a limited participant throughout the rest of the summer, barring no setbacks, but the team periods and everything else outside of individual periods will be for the 2 young quarterbacks to continue proving themselves.

The Colts likely wanted Leonard to win the job because of the fact that Anthony Richardson has one foot out the door, as he is set to become an unrestricted free-agent next summer after the Colts declined to exercise his 5th-year option earlier this off-season. With Leonard having 3 years left on his deal (including 2026), it makes more sense for the Colts to pivot to him if need be, but Leonard still has to earn said role.

o