Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard is working his way back after a lost 2022 season due to injury, and it seems he’s making progress on the road to recovery.
After dealing with a nagging injury that wound up being related to a nerve in his back, Leonard essentially missed the entire 2022 campaign outside of a handful of snaps.
He underwent another surgery late in the season while Jeff Saturday was the interim head coach, and he was in attendance for the start of voluntary offseason workouts this week.
“Shaq (Leonard), he’s been progressing well. I’m not going to put a timetable on his return, but we’ve had good attendance,” head coach Shane Steichen said this week.
Leonard is a key piece to the defense and will be taking on a massive role both as a player and a communicator in the middle of Gus Bradley’s scheme.
Though he’s no longer the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL after Roquan Smith took the title earlier in the offseason, we should expect Leonard to continue working with that chip on his shoulder as he’s done throughout his career.
If the Colts defense is going to take the next step, The Maniac needs to be a part of the journey. We won’t know exactly how his recovery is going, especially since the Colts are likely to be smart with him during the offseason workouts.
However, it does appear things are trending in the right direction to see the heart of the defense return in 2023.
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