Through the first five games of his NFL career, former Fairhope High School star Riley Leonard served as the emergency third quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. That meant Leonard could play only if Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson could not.
Leonard was supposed to keep that role for Game No. 6 on Sunday. But during his pregame warmup, Richardson sustained an eye injury, and Leonard shifted to the game-day active roster as Jones’ backup.
Leonard will stay in that spot for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“It’s not really how you want to get the job, right?” Leonard said on Wednesday in the Indianapolis locker room. “You want to really earn it. But, I mean, that’s just the nature of this league is kind of next man up. So praying for AR, obviously. I think he’s in really good spirits and, hopefully, recovering well.”
Leonard said the change on the depth chart “won’t change much” about his preparation.
“Still a backup, but just one play away now instead of two,” Leonard said. “But nothing really changes for me. I kind of operate the same. Live a pretty boring life outside of football, so I don’t do much but, you know, kind of just prepare. …
“Mentally, like, it’s obviously a little different, right? But you can’t make too much of it. If I were to go into the game, hopefully, it’s because we’re winning by a lot of points and I got the fourth quarter to myself or something like that. You never wish anything upon the starter or anything like that.”
With Richardson going on injured reserve, he will have to miss the next four games. The Colts signed quarterback Brett Rypien for their practice squad after losing Richardson. Since entering the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2019, Rypien has played in 11 regular-season games with four starts.
“I love Riley,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said on Wednesday. “I think Riley’s came in with the right mindset from Day 1, the way he works, the way he prepares. So it’s a hell of an opportunity for Riley this week, and then, like I said, he’ll be our backup this week and then we’ll see how everything goes through the next couple weeks.”
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Jones said he’d seen a lot of progress from Leonard since the rookie joined Indianapolis from Notre Dame in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 26.
“I think he’s worked extremely hard since the day he got in here to learn it and pick it up,” Jones said. “He’s a smart guy, you know, very, very talented, and been fun watching him. So he’s been fun to work with. Great energy and spirit in the room and has helped me a ton. So he’s made a lot of progress. I think he’ll be ready to roll on Sunday.”
Before helping Notre Dame reach the 2024 CFP national-championship game, Leonard played three seasons at Duke, which sent Jones to the NFL as the sixth choice in the 2019 NFL Draft.
“Oh, shoot, I’ve leaned on that since the day I got drafted,” Leonard said of his connection with Jones. “I mean, there’s no better guy to look up to when it comes to how you operate, how you go about your day-to-day routine. I mean, the dude’s dialed in, and, obviously, it’s working on Sundays. So really, really fortunate to be his backup. I mean, shoot, he was a huge reason why I committed to Duke back in high school. So it’s cool to be playing with him now.”
Before the season, the Colts had a quarterback competition involving Jones, a free-agent signee, and Richardson, the fourth pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Jones won and has Indianapolis off to a 5-1 start as the highest-scoring team in the NFL.
On Sunday, Richardson suffered a fractured orbital bone in a mishap with an exercise band.
“It was a unique moment, I think, for all of us,” Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said on Tuesday. “But sometimes when you’re preparing a young player for maybe a role that he wasn’t prepping for all week, you don’t want to say too much to, you know, get to thinking about too many different things. So, hey, we’re ready to go play football. He’s ready to go play football. That’s the role of the third quarterback on game day. If your number’s called, you got to be ready to go play.
“So things changed a little bit prior to the game Sunday, but we were confident that Riley was ready to go in there if his number was called. And he’ll continue preparing as such.”
The Colts and Chargers square off at 3:05 p.m. CDT Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Los Angeles had a 4-2 record.
Leonard was an honorable-mention All-State selection in 2019 and a second-team pick in 2020 for Fairhope in football. For the Pirates boys’ basketball team, Leonard earned third-team All-State recognition in 2020 and first-team selection in 2021.
In three seasons at Duke, Leonard threw for 4,450 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 1,224 yards and 19 touchdowns. At Notre Dame in 2024, Leonard threw for 2,861 yards and 21 touchdowns and ran for 906 yards and 17 touchdowns.
In three preseason games for the Colts in August, Leonard completed 34-of-56 passes for 345 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 58 yards on seven carries.
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