Colts 2025 Rookie Report: Riley Leonard

Indianapolis, IN — The Indianapolis Colts have been riding the quarterback carousel ever since Chris Ballard took over as the franchise’s general manager back in 2017.

Seemingly, everything has been tried at this point. All possible darts have been unleashed upon the fabled dartboard, resulting in an evil cornucopia filled with failed experiments in the form of high draft picks, reclamation projects, and/or last-ditch efforts — you name it, it’s happened.

Now I must introduce the most recent installment of Quarterback Remedies by Chris Ballard: the good old-fashioned “I have no more ideas, hopefully this kid turns into the next Tom Brady” final stand.

This is the sixth installment of an ongoing article series that’ll cover each Colts rookie from the 2025-26 season.

Expectations — As is the case with any sixth-round rookie quarterback, expectations are dangerously low. Then add in the infamous layer of a starting job battle between players with professional experience, and the best role possible would be that of the 3rd emergency quarterback.

As for Riley Leonard, the emergency role is where he found himself throughout the first half of the season. That is, until a freaky pre-game injury effectively ended Anthony Richardson’s season, opening the door for Leonard to learn directly under Daniel Jones, and also Philip Rivers a little later down the road.

Rookie Season — Leonard got two legitimate opportunities as a rookie — relief duty once Jones went down early in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and another in the team’s season finale against the Houston Texans. Here’s how he fared in those two matchups:

@ JAX: 18-29 (62.1%) for 145 passing yards, 1 interception, sacked once, and 1 rushing touchdown

@ HOU: 21-34 (61.8%) for 270 passing yards, 3 touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), 1 interception, sacked once, 2 fumbles

Head coach Shane Steichen on Riley Leonard’s debut as a first-time starter: “His preparation was awesome all week, and then his composure throughout the game was huge…Shoot, I thought he played a tremendous game. Obviously, I’m sure there are a few plays that he’d want back, but he did some really good things for us.”

Future Outlook — He didn’t come out and light the league on fire in either of his extended runs, but Riley Leonard did enough to prove his doubters wrong. There was much to say about Leonard’s arm (or lack thereof) coming out of college, but he was fearlessly pushing the ball downfield against the Texans in his lone start as a rookie, doing so at an impressive rate.

It’d be disingenuous to suggest that any player has a shot to replicate Tom Brady’s masterful rise to immortality. I cannot in good faith liken Riley Leonard to him, though I’d be remiss to not acknowledge their similarities. With the draft slot being the closest in storyline (Brady’s 199th vs Leonard’s 189th), it’s admittedly difficult not to draw comparisons out of pure instinct.

After being regarded as a potential part of the team’s future plans, regardless of which role said hypothetical entails, Riley Leonard has already proven that he, at the very least, belongs on an NFL team in no less than a second-string capacity. He immediately becomes one of the better 3rd options on any given team, whereas his potential to become anything more has more support than it did following the draft.

This dart has actually hit the board, but will it become a bullseye?