Like many, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard expected to get one more season out of quarterback Philip Rivers before the latter finally called it a career.
That wouldn’t be the case, though, as Rivers decided to retire following the 2020 season. Not only does this leave the Colts with a massive hole to fill at quarterback, but it also simply took the team by surprise.
“It was definitely a complete shock,” Leonard told Sirius XM NFL Radio via NFL.com. “You know, just talking to him a couple of days before he announced, he still didn’t know what he was gonna do. Me personally, I do believe that he has some left in the tank. He played very well this year for us and I thought he was going to come back the next year and do the same exact thing and play even better.”
Since arriving as a second-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Leonard has had three different starting quarterbacks in each of his first three seasons. It started with Andrew Luck in 2018 then with Jacoby Brissett in 2019 and finally with Rivers in 2020.
So unless Brissett is re-signed as the starter for 2021, Leonard and the Colts will have gone through their fourth new starting quarterback in as many seasons.
Leonard himself doesn’t have a preference on what kind of quarterback they bring in just as long as they understand the culture that has been built.
“I honestly don’t care who’s the quarterback, as long as the quarterback comes in with the right mentality and they’re gonna help us win ballgames,” said Leonard. “I don’t care if he’s young, I don’t care if he’s old, I don’t care if he’s well-known or not. If you’re going to come in and put the team first and help us win ballgames, come on down to the Indianapolis Colts.”
The Colts have some options in free agency if they decide to go that route or they can look to trade up in the 2021 NFL draft.
How the team will go about doing so isn’t at all clear, but Leonard has faith in Chris Ballard.
“I’m gonna just trust the guys up front in the front office and then let the chips fall where they fall and control what I can control on defense, and that is just playing hard and just doing what we can do,” Leonard said.
It should make for a fun offseason to see how the Colts go about adding a quarterback or two, but the only thing Leonard is concerned about is that player helping them win.
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