Darius Leonard is one of the best individual defensive players, and he's a large factor in any favorable ranking of the Colts Defense, too. That's why there's ample reason for concern about his health as training camp approaches.
Leonard played through an ankle injury last season, though he missed only one game (and his numbers didn't show any ill effect). A couple of weeks ago it was reported that he was still dealing with an ankle issue, which has since been reported two different ways: one that it was related to a calf issue, and another -- more troubling -- that it has to do with a nerve in his back.
So Leonard has undergone back surgery to deal with that. Zak Keefer of The Athletic says the team believes he'll be ready "at/near the start of camp." That's a pretty broad gray area (near seems more likely) and enough reason to scale back early-season expectations for both Leonard himself and the Colts Defense. No reason to think he won't be ready for Week 1, but reason to think he'll be limited for much of the preseason and maybe less than 100 percent early in the season.
Leonard is a huge part of what the Colts do defensively, most notably in terms of takeaways, and specifically fumbles. In three of his four years in the league, the Colts have ranked in the top 8 in fumbles; they were No. 1 last year (14). Leonard led the league by forcing 8; his 17 during his four-year career is 2nd-only to T.J. Watt.
| FORCED FUMBLES, 2018-2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | G | FF | FR |
| T.J. Watt | OLB | 62 | 21 | 7 |
| Darius Leonard | OLB | 58 | 17 | 7 |
| Chandler Jones | DE | 52 | 17 | 6 |
| Aaron Donald | DT | 65 | 14 | 4 |
| Khalil Mack | OLB | 53 | 14 | 6 |
| Marlon Humphrey | CB | 57 | 12 | 3 |
| Josh Norman | CB | 52 | 12 | 3 |
| Shaquil Barrett | OLB | 59 | 11 | 2 |
| Robert Quinn | DE | 61 | 11 | 1 |
| J.J. Watt | DE | 47 | 11 | 3 |
| Yannick Ngakoue | DE | 63 | 10 | 1 |
| Dee Ford | OLB | 34 | 10 | 0 |
| Myles Garrett | DE | 57 | 10 | 3 |
| DeMarcus Lawrence | DE | 55 | 10 | 4 |
| Vonn Bell | SS | 61 | 9 | 9 |
| Lavonte David | OLB | 58 | 9 | 6 |
| Justin Houston | OLB | 59 | 9 | 9 |
| Malcolm Jenkins | FS | 64 | 9 | 3 |
| Haason Reddick | OLB | 64 | 9 | 2 |
| Logan Ryan | CB | 61 | 9 | 3 |
| Joey Bosa | DE | 51 | 8 | 2 |
| Frank Clark | DE | 59 | 8 | 4 |
| Jadeveon Clowney | OLB | 50 | 8 | 5 |
| Bud Dupree | OLB | 54 | 8 | 1 |
| Trey Flowers | DE | 44 | 8 | 2 |
| Dante Fowler | OLB | 59 | 8 | 3 |
| Randy Gregory | DE | 36 | 8 | 2 |
| Terrance Mitchell | CB | 53 | 8 | 1 |
| Jason Pierre-Paul | DE | 54 | 8 | 3 |
| Kyle Van Noy | MLB | 61 | 8 | 7 |
Search tools at pro-football-reference.com were used in compiling this table. As we note in the magazine (on newsstands soon), fumbles can be a shaky statistical category to invest in, but the Colts are definitely one of the few teams that deserve a boost in this area. But that's with Leonard on the field and doing his thing. Something to keep a close eye on in July and August, and to scale back expectations for if Leonard isn't fully healthy.
--Andy Richardson