{"id":226954,"date":"2025-04-09T14:30:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=226954"},"modified":"2025-04-08T20:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T00:23:40","slug":"riley-leonard-would-fit-in-with-the-colts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/04\/09\/riley-leonard-would-fit-in-with-the-colts\/","title":{"rendered":"This Dual-Threat Quarterback Would Fit in with the Colts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, tight end and linebacker are perhaps the biggest needs for the Indianapolis Colts. However, don\u2019t be surprised if they take a quarterback at some point in the draft. That quarterback could be Notre Dame\u2019s Riley Leonard.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Colts haven\u2019t given up on Anthony Richardson<\/a> yet. With that said, it\u2019s highly unlikely that the team will take a quarterback early in the draft. Cam Ward<\/a> and Shedeur Sanders<\/a>, who are both expected to go in the first round, won\u2019t head to Indianapolis unless something crazy happens. Selecting Riley Leonard, a projected sixth-round pick, is a lot more realistic.<\/p>\n

Spending time at Notre Dame, Leonard knows a thing or two about playing in Indiana. Maybe he\u2019ll take his talents from South Bend to Indianapolis this spring.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame Quarterback Riley Leonard Would Fit in with the Indianapolis Colts<\/h2>\n

His Career Thus Far<\/h3>\n

Riley Leonard starred at Fairhope High School in Fairhope, Alabama. During his senior year, he threw for 1,900 yards and 25 touchdowns. He also rushed for 500 yards. <\/sup>Leonard received college offers from schools like Nebraska, Syracuse, and Tulane. However, he committed to Duke University.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

During Leonard\u2019s three years at Duke, he passed for 4,450 yards and 24 touchdowns while adding 1,224 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground. He later transferred<\/a> to Notre Dame, where he spent his final year of college football. Last season, Leonard threw for 2,861 yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions while completing 66.7 percent of his passes. He also rushed for a ridiculous 906 yards and 17 scores. Leonard led Notre Dame to 14 wins this past year. He also took them to the National Championship Game<\/a>, where they lost to Ohio State.<\/p>\n

Why the Colts Should Draft Him<\/h3>\n

Everyone knew the Colts would acquire a quarterback this offseason who\u2019d compete with Anthony Richardson. Daniel Jones<\/a> turned out to be the man for the job. Whoever loses the \u201cAR5 vs. \u201cDanny Dimes\u201d battle will serve as the team\u2019s primary backup. Sam Ehlinger was Indy\u2019s No. 3 quarterback last season. However, he recently signed<\/a> with the Denver Broncos. If the Colts draft Riley Leonard, he can compete with Jason Bean for that No. 3 spot<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-4 and 216-pound Leonard possesses exceptional athleticism and could emerge as one of the NFL\u2019s best running quarterbacks. In addition, he has good arm talent, which allows him to throw deep, catchable passes.<\/p>\n

Leonard is known as a dual-threat prospect due to his ability to throw and run the football effectively. He would fit in nicely in the Colts quarterback room. Richardson, Jones, and Bean are dual-threat weapons as well. Richardson has rushed for 10 touchdowns since joining the league and Jones has 15 career rushing touchdowns. Jones rushed for a career-high seven touchdowns and 708 yards in 2022 as a member of the New York Giants<\/a>. While Bean hasn’t appeared in a regular-season NFL game yet, he rushed for 1,342 yards in college. That means the team wouldn\u2019t have to change the playbook much if they switched to Leonard.<\/p>\n

Riley Leonard is considered a project quarterback right now. Yet, he could still develop into something special in Indy down the road.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Vasha Hunt – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts should consider taking Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard late in the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":227148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,54,1647],"tags":[9564,4688,7800,33119],"class_list":["post-226954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","category-nfl-draft","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-daniel-jones","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-riley-leonard"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226954"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227150,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226954\/revisions\/227150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}