Colts' LB Darius (Shaq) Leonard released

TheMarathonContinues said:
He's a 27 year old defensive end though. I don't get the point in taking on a linebacker but maybe they will I Don't understand a lot of moves the Bears make.
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It's very possible they put in a claim as their would be competition to sign him as a fa. His contract might prevent any team from claiming him, though.
 
I was reading what the Indy fans were saying on SB Nation and they all believe he is a shell of his former self due to injuries in his career.
 
Cowboyny said:
It's very possible they put in a claim as their would be competition to sign him as a fa. His contract might prevent any team from claiming him, though.
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I might agree with that if Leonard wasn’t damaged goods. He simply isn’t very good anymore and not worth that kind of money.

I mean, maybe a front office disagrees with me and maybe they know something that we don’t… but I don’t think the guy is a good player any more. I’d be surprised if any team pays him roughly a million dollars per game for the rest of this season.
 
AsthmaField said:
Philly’s LB play is pretty bad right now because they had to let both LB’s go in free agency because they didn’t have the money to pay them. Howie didn’t want to spend the little money they had on LB’s.

Their DL isn’t the same without Hargrave. They had to let him go because they didn’t really have the money for a big contract… and that is a guy they really didn’t need to lose.

And yeah, Howie was on decade long cold streak with number 1 picks until he realized he couldn’t draft and just started taking big program SEC guys.
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I agree. Howie deserves props my goodness the guy doesn't walk on water. It didn't take a genius to draft Jalen Carter lol.
 
Cowboyny said:
I was reading what the Indy fans were saying on SB Nation and they all believe he is a shell of his former self due to injuries in his career.
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See I haven't heard that. Seems like most people say he can still play just had issues playing a defense he wasn't catered for.
 
TheMarathonContinues said:
Someone brought up yesterday that he has no guarantees after this year. Pay the 6.1 million and then cut him.
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From what I understand he is guaranteed $6 million next season if injured. So, if a team claimed him now, they pay the $6 million this season, if he got injured then they would be on the hook for $6 million in 2024. He will or maybe already has cleared waivers.
 
Leonard being a shell of his “former self” is based on the bar he set so high for his play…..he doesn’t need to be an all pro here or Philly or anywhere. He just needs to be a serviceable role player whose capable of making some plays game to game and good in the locker room.

Seems more than capable of that….if you expect a pro bowl guy or the former Leonard you are just being silly. I’ll gladly take a solid depth guy who can play the run in spot duty
 
CTcowboy203 said:
Well for starters the linebacker duo they have now - one wasn’t even on the initial 53 and the other was a late addition to the team in camp. Nakobe dean has underwhelmed when played but now is on injured reserve. Then by nature the eagles are typically aggressive when it comes to positional depth and Leonard would provide some security for the position.

There’s also Philly based places saying the same thing I am and hinting that at worst there will be interest as evidenced by the 2 links below….

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com...ived-colts-linebacker-shaquille-leonard-colts

“It is no secret that the Philadelphia Eagles have been a little thin at linebacker this season. The Birds lost T.J. Edwards to the Chicago Bears in free agency over the summer and, more recently, have had to put Nakobe Dean on the injured reserve with a Lisfranc injury. While Zach Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow have done an admirable job, they could always use a little backup”

The eagles were looking for linebackers at the trade deadline according to reports as well and have long term questions about the position so it only make sense to add depth and take a flyer on Leonard :

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.c...-the-eagles-going-to-do-at-linebacker/546458/

Another outlet that think they are a good fit ( it is bleacher report but it contains tweets that show linebacker interest at deadline )
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All well-taken.

A little further investigation just now revealed that it's suspected that Dean may be back, but yes, I'd forgotten that he'd been put on IR.

They just moved up a practice squad LB on Monday, so you're right, there's some decent potential for Leonard to get some PT if signed.

CTcowboy203 said:
Now, in terms of your comment about the sirrianni relationship….you completely ignored my other 2 points before that which mentioned the 1)the eagles have the best record in the nfl 2) the need for depth at the position.

Relationships are a huge deal in the nfl and a huge part of the recruiting process so him having some familiarity with the coach matters. It’s definitely not a “so what”
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1. Okay. Maybe that's important to him. But I think that would be more of a tiebreaking factor. There seems to be a lot of teams in both conferences this season that can make an argument that they're a SB contender. As long as one of those is among the higher bidders for his services, conventional wisdom would be that he'd go for that one, whoever it is.

OverTheCap.com has DAL with about $6.6m of cap space, PHI with half that. That could be important.

2. Two thoughts. From Leonard's perspective, I don't see "depth at the position" as anything of merit. He doesn't want to go somewhere that he merely represents depth if he can help it. From the Eagles' perspective, though, maybe it would be attractive to insert Leonard as a stop-gap for Dean's absence, and anticipating that if Dean returns, Leonard still may have performed too well to re-insert Dean into the starting line-up.

3. Relationships? Pardon my repeating myself, but what I said was that the relationship with a player in the huddle with him and in the film room with is inherently going to have had more time to gel... than the relationship with a coach on the other side of the ball who he's only been around fairly tangentially. And thus, the capacity for Gilmore to influence Leonard would be superior. Leonard hasn't played for Sirianni, so it's not even as-if he'd be naturally more familiar with Sirianni's defense. And, add to that, who doesn't want to play for Dan Quinn... he has guru status in the league at this point.
 
No one needs a veteran LB more than Dallas right now. We are 1 injury from a truly dire situation.
 
Chuck 54 said:
No one needs a veteran LB more than Dallas right now. We are 1 injury from a truly dire situation.
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He’s close with Gilmore and Hooker as well.

If he has any juice, they will be selling him.
 
AsthmaField said:
I might agree with that if Leonard wasn’t damaged goods. He simply isn’t very good anymore and not worth that kind of money.

I mean, maybe a front office disagrees with me and maybe they know something that we don’t… but I don’t think the guy is a good player any more. I’d be surprised if any team pays him roughly a million dollars per game for the rest of this season.
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Agree, his contract doesn't match the player he currently is, which is why he more likely heads to fa. Question is, would he make a impact on this team and would he sign here?
 
Little surprising that a fanbase that was so wanted Jaylon Smith out wants his injury clone from the AFC. Grass is always greener I guess. Probably was a 12-page thread like this on other team’s boards when we released Jaylon. Superstar genes will buy you a lot of leeway for body breakdowns I guess.
 
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