JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This wasn’t how Riley Leonard wanted to get his shot – the first meaningful snaps of his NFL career.
He began the year as the Colts‘ third quarterback before Anthony Richardson Sr.’s freak pre-game injury eight weeks ago resulted in a broken orbital bone. The rookie sixth-round pick knows all too well how one’s role can change in an instant.
“When you’re the second-string QB, you’re one play away. So when that play happens, if you haven’t been preparing for that, then what have you been doing?” Leonard said Sunday after playing the final three quarters of the Colts’ 36-19 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars after Daniel Jones suffered a non-contact Achilles injury with seconds left in the first quarter. “There’s a lot of things you can think about when you go into a game, but I try to just focus on the little things.”
The moment was very much not little, though. Trailing 14-7 in the first quarter of a pivotal road divisional matchup, playing at a stadium the franchise last won at in 2014 and trying to reverse a two-game losing streak, Jones went down untouched as he planted his right foot for a third-and-8 throw. Jones slammed his helmet on the field in frustration and needed help into the blue injury tent.
Not long after, Jones was ruled out with an Achilles injury. Colts head coach Shane Steichen said postgame that Jones’ injury “could be season-ending.”
“It’s not for sure, but it’s not looking good,” he said.
Leonard suddenly found himself calling plays inside the huddle in the midst of a pivotal regular season game.
To say it was a far cry from the preseason snaps where he wowed at times doesn’t do the situation justice.
“It’s difficult but that’s the nature of the game. Obviously, your first thought is to pray for Daniel and hope he’s great. That’s not how you envision getting snaps. I always envision myself working and working and developing into a starter that I’ve earned,” Leonard said. “But whether I earned it or not is kinda irrelevant. Daniel went down and my turn was up. It’s super unfortunate to see that, but hopefully everything works out, and we’ll be praying for him.”
Leonard finished 18-for-29 for 145 yards passing in his three quarters, getting sacked once and throwing an interception. He scored on a scramble for one of the team’s two touchdowns, a six-yard run in the closing minutes with the game out of reach.
There were moments where you could see the promise – most notably on what could’ve been a touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr. in the red zone before the receiver was flagged for a questionable offensive pass interference penalty. Leonard also hit Alec Pierce on a 29-yard pass on just his third throw of the game to move into Jacksonville territory, leading to a field goal.
But there were others when Leonard looked every bit a rookie sixth-round pick who’d gotten almost no first team reps since joining the franchise and who’d thrown all of two passes in his NFL career – in garbage time of a blowout win Oct. 26 vs. the Titans. Missed throws and miscommunication peppered Leonard’s debut but his teammates and coach said they were impressed with the way Leonard carried himself.
“He comes in there in a rainy game, the weather and all that stuff, and he goes down and marches down the field, throws a touchdown that gets called back, and he had a big third-down conversion,” Steichen said. “Made some good plays, good throws.”
Leonard lauded his teammates postgame for showing him support in small moments off the field between series, as his life and career were seemingly changing at a million miles an hour. It helped center the 23-year-old for a role he’d done his best to prepare for but certainly couldn’t have expected to be dropped in his lap Sunday.
“The biggest thing for me today was just to walk over to the sidelines and have guys like (veteran offensive lineman Quenton Nelson) come up to me and say he believes in me. Everybody on the sidelines was very supportive, and that’s always good for a rookie QB who went into the season as a third stringer,” Leonard said. “You start taking the odds into the equation and there’s a small probability you play; nevertheless have the potential to start.
“But to have guys come up to me was really cool, and that meant a lot to me.”
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor said, ultimately, the responsibility falls on the rest of the Indianapolis offense to lift Leonard up in order for the unit to reach whatever heights may be possible moving forward.
“We’ve definitely got to do a better job for Riley, but I think in the circumstances he came in under, he was trying to give us a chance,” Taylor said. “I think he did a really good job of saying, ‘Okay, I know for you guys it was a gut punch, but I’m willing, able and ready.’
“He was confident in the huddle. We’ve got to be the best for Riley and in the conditions he came in, I know that’s a lot, and I do think he handled it pretty well.”
And helping Leonard along in that chaos was Jones himself, who was seen on the sidelines in the second half after he’d been ruled out, in street clothes and a walking boot, coaching up his protégé in ways that wouldn’t at all suggest his career might’ve just been altered within the last hour.
“Daniel’s the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my life, so it’s no surprise that he came back out there to cheer us on. I remember going over to the sidelines and he was the first one to put the raincoat on me. The first to ask, ‘So what did you see on that play?’ and help me out on what to expect in certain situations,” Leonard said. “That’s exactly who he is.”
And it’s because Jones had been so open and encouraging, Leonard said, that the Colts’ new starting QB was as prepared as he was for his spot-duty Sunday.
“Each week, I’ve focused on my preparation, preparing like I’m the starter, and Daniel’s done a great job of helping me do that. Two days ago, I’m at his house and we’re focusing on the gameplan, quizzing each other on the playbook and the defensive coverages that we can expect,” Leonard said. “I really appreciate him taking me under his wing. Shoot, we lived together the first three or four weeks of the season before I found a place.
“He’s just been great to me and my preparation that way, so when I do go in like today, it wasn’t too much for me out there.”
Even before Sunday’s difficult circumstances, Jones’ teammates had taken notice of their starting QB’s investment in his own backup – work that now will bear fruit at a critical juncture in the Colts’ season and future.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.