Shaq Leonard gets his flowers

The former Colts linebacker will retire as a Colt this Sunday, and nobody deserves it more. It's just a shame to think what-if.

They called him The Maniac, and he was one of the five-to-10 best linebackers I’ve ever seen. He was a walking turnover producer, a sideline-to-sideline madman who arrived at his prey with targeted anger and violence. If Shaquille Leonard (formerly known as Darius) had stayed healthy, if a back injury hadn’t diminished him to the point where he was forced to retire from the game he so loved, Leonard would have reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Leonard will be in Indianapolis this weekend, where he will sign with the Colts and retire as a Colt during halftime of this Sunday’s game against the Raiders at Lucas Oil Stadium, walking away from the game with the team that selected him out of South Carolina State in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

For four seasons, Leonard was the ultimate difference-maker, averaging 134.5 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.8 sacks per year. He also forced 17 fumbles, intercepted 11 passes and recovered seven fumbles. Bears defensive back Charles “Peanut” Tillman invented the “Peanut Punch,” but it was Leonard who took the turnover mantle and ran with it. Nobody in the league was more adept at jarring the football loose from a ball carrier.

He won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2018 and was an All-Pro four times.

“He was the ultimate guy, taking the football away, punching it out,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “Relentless...(His instincts) were freaky. It was special to watch.”

Said fellow linebacker Zaire Franklin, one of the few long-time Colts who played with Leonard during their time in Indianapolis.

“I’m just happy for him, bro,” Franklin said. “I know he went through a lot of torment the last few years, first off just with his body, trying to get ready to play. I’m glad he’s getting his flowers.”

We asked Franklin what made Leonard so good with the punch-out.

He laughed.

“I mean, it’s not really a secret,” he said. “He just gets really, really mad and wants to punch somebody. So don’t piss him off.”

Leonard, from tiny South Carolina State, played with white-hot passion, a beast in both the running and passing game. He was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career when his body betrayed him. In 2021 he dealt with a left calf issue. He thought it was simply muscular, a relatively quick fix with rehab and treatment, but it turned out, the calf problem was being initiated by a disc issue in his back, which impacted the nerves that led to his leg. He had surgery in 2022, returned for three games -- he conceded he returned too fast -- then had a second surgery later that season.

By 2023, the Colts could see it clearly: Leonard’s explosiveness, the qualities that made him such an impactful player, were gone. The Colts released him, he played three games in Philly and that was it. Now he’s ready to retire and begin his next chapter as a high school football coach in his home town.

I will never forget the day when Leonard announced his arrival as an elite player. The Colts were visiting Washington and Leonard was everywhere, finishing with 18 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and one pass defensed. He was a menace in the Colts’ 21-9 victory over the then-Redskins.

But here’s the crazy thing, and I’ll let Franklin, his road roommate, explain what happened prior to that breakout performance.

“So it was our second game (that season) and I had the flu, I was sick,” Franklin said. “My wife would say I already have a really bad snoring problem, and D Leonard caught the brunt of it that night. It was so bad that he actually had to sleep in the tub in the bathroom.

“Then he woke up the next day, 18 tackles, a forced fumble and all kinds of records, Defensive Player of the Week, I told him, you need to sleep in that tub more often.”

Leonard becomes a member of a club nobody wants to join: Athletes who have to live with the question, “What might have been” had they stayed healthy through most of their career. Indy has had an unfair share of those unfortunate injuries to rising players. We’ll always wonder about Andrew Luck, and Bob Sanders, and Steve Emtman, and Jonathan Bender, and Victor Oladipo, wonder what kinds of long-term careers they could have forged had they not dealt with disabling injuries. Luck’s story, in particular, is the one that stings the most. Like Leonard, he was Hall of Fame-bound until his body, and his offensive line, betrayed him.

Now, Leonard will return to his hometown of Lake View, S.C. where he will be a high school football coach.

But not before he signs and retires as a Colt this Sunday.

“I’m just glad he’s getting his flowers,” Franklin said. “Nobody deserves it more.”