Career in Review: Shaq Leonard to Retire an All-Time Colts Great

Former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard has called it a career. The Colts announced he will retire as a member of the franchise during Sunday's game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

In another life, Leonard would have been playing in this Sunday's game. He'd still be cashing in on the nearly $100 million payday the team gave him before the 2021 season. Assuming Leonard doesn't injure his back in 2022, we all would have continued to bear witness to a career that was almost certainly leading to a bust in Canton.

Instead, the team is honoring his retirement this Sunday as if he had played for a decade. The Maniac's impact in his best four seasons was enough to leave behind a legacy that has paved the way for the culture the Colts continue to strive for today.

Colts fans are all too accustomed to wondering what greats like Bob Sanders and Andrew Luck could have been, and while Leonard's career is cut shorter than what most would have imagined, it's fair to say that he did enough for the franchise to be hailed as an all-timer.

Leonard was selected by the Colts with the 36th overall pick in the second round, exactly 30 selections after drafting five-time All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson. The South Carolina State alumnus was seen as the consensus 82nd overall prospect in the class, per NFL Mock Draft Database. Experts figured he'd have been lucky to see the top half of the third round.

Many draft experts like Matt Miller didn't hold back on how they felt about the Colts' day 2 choice.

The Indianapolis Colts selection of South Carolina State linebacker Darius Leonard with the fourth pick in the second round was one of the drafts worst moves... for whatever reason, we woke up Friday in a world where Indianapolis thought taking an FCS linebacker in the top 40 was a good idea.
Matt Miller for Bleacher Report, 2018

Heads started to turn at training camp later that year. The Colts were coming off a 4-12 season, their worst record in over six years. That 2017 Indy defense gave up 406 points, good for the third most in the league. A vacancy at the team's WILL linebacker role allowed Leonard to earn a starting role as a rookie following an impressive August.

Rookie Darius Leonard’s interception of Andrew Luck just now was the most athletic play I’ve seen so far today. Leaping downfield INT vs Erik Swoope. Not a great decision by Luck either.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) July 26, 2018

Very quickly, Leonard became the league's newest surprise star. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week in just his second career start thanks to a monster performance against the Washington Redskins, racking up 18 combined tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble.

Earning the nickname "The Maniac," Leonard would go on to earn Defensive Rookie of the Month honors from the NFL after an outrageous first four games. His 54 tackles led the league at the time, but were also the most by any player in the first four weeks of a season since 1994. The Maniac's four sacks also lead all rookies in September.

By Week 15, Leonard had already broken the franchise record for tackles in a rookie season with 143. He'd go on to break the franchise record for most tackles in a single season by any Colts player ever, with 163.

In the team's final game of the season, Leonard was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time that year. He joined the likes of Hall of Famers Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison as the only Colts to ever achieve the honor twice in their debut season.

He would also earn December's AFC Defensive Player of the Month award, joining Edgerrin James in November of 1999 as the only rookies in franchise history to earn the monthly honor.

The MANIAC has been named AFC Defensive Player of the Week!@dsleon45 joins Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James as the only Indianapolis rookies to earn Player of the Week honors multiples times. pic.twitter.com/13VBgpc6a4
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 2, 2019

Leonard finished the 2018 season as the NFL's tackle leader despite missing a game, recording 19 more tackles than the second-place finisher. His tackle total ranked third in league history for a rookie. He also became one of only two NFL players to ever register 160 or more total tackles and 7.0 or more sacks in a single season.

His historic rookie season earned him AP first-team All-Pro honors, a recognition that Leonard's teammate and fellow rookie, Quenton Nelson, would share with him. The pair became the first set of rookie teammates to both earn first-team All-Pro honors since Pro Football Hall of Famers Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers in 1965 with the Chicago Bears.

THE MANIAC IS DROY! 😈

📺: #NFLHonors | 9pm ET on CBS pic.twitter.com/BsyUL8LlHM
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) February 2, 2019

The former FCS linebacker capped off the season by earning the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year award, which was a no-brainer. Leonard quickly became the heart of the Colts' defense, a unit he would lead year-round for the next three seasons.

Leonard earned his first Pro Bowl appearance in 2019, along with an AP second-team All-Pro nod. In just his sophomore season, he became just the eighth player in NFL history to record five sacks and five interceptions in a single season.

He was the first player to ever do so in fewer than 15 games. The Maniac also became the first NFL player since 1982 to have 10-plus sacks and 5-plus interceptions in the first 25 games of a career.

After once again being named to the Pro Bowl and earning his second AP first-team All-Pro recognition in 2020, Leonard was awarded a five-year, $99.25 million contract following the season, which included $52.5 million fully guaranteed.

The team got their money's worth, as Indianapolis received what was arguably one of the greatest seasons by a linebacker in league history. Leonard ended the season with four interceptions, eight pass breakups, eight forced fumbles, and 122 total tackles.

His eight forced fumbles were the most by any off-ball linebacker in league history. He became the first player ever with eight-plus forced fumbles and four-plus interceptions in a single season. Shaquille Leonard also remains the only player in league history with 10-plus interceptions, 15+ sacks, and 15+ forced fumbles in a 60-game span.

No Colts linebacker has ever been named All-Pro or first-team All-Pro more times than Shaquille Leonard. His 12 total turnovers forced in 2021 remain the single-season NFL record for his position. His ability on the field was irrefutably some of the best the sport has ever seen, but somehow it was off the field where the Maniac's greatest strengths shone through.

Shaquille Leonard - A leader on the field. A life-changer in the community.#WPMOYChallenge x @dsleon45

1 RT = 2 votes ‼️ pic.twitter.com/nj104EAmnf
— Maniac Foundation (@ManiacCares) January 4, 2023

Leonard's contributions to his hometown community in Lakeview, South Carolina, and Indianapolis earned him the team's nomination for the 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year award. He founded his charity, the Maniac Foundation, with his wife, Kayla.

In June of 2022, the Maniac Foundation donated $15,000 to Soulshine, which provided custom caskets for each victim of the Uvalde school shooting that took the lives of 19 fourth graders and two teachers. The foundation also has a Historically Black Colleges and Universities student scholarship program that dedicates $5,300 annually to cover tuition and/or textbooks for HBCU students.

Surprise stop at Arlington Woods 99 to celebrate some outstanding Math and Reading students.

Special thanks to our Community Sponsor @DMCinsurance for helping us put smiles on these deserving students faces. #ManiacCares @dsleon45 pic.twitter.com/U0CB4APUQ0
— Maniac Foundation (@ManiacCares) December 15, 2021

The Maniac Reading and Math initiative was a post-COVID initiative that aimed to address the challenges students face. The foundation donated over 400 new books to the Lake View Elementary School library and provided incentives for students who regularly attended class, resulting in rising test scores over the course of the school year.

The four-time All-Pro's career was ultimately cut short due to what was ultimately deemed an impinged nerve in his back stemming from a herniated disc. The injury caused nagging pain in Leonard's calf. This would go on to affect his play in 2023, inevitably leading to his mid-season release.

Despite how many view Leonard's career, many of his teammates do not view his premature departure from the franchise as a matter of what could've been.

It's not really a what-if because he played the game how it's supposed to... [Shaquille] gave every single thing that he had to this game. I watched him limp around here with one foot and go take the ball away in eight straight games... I think he took everything from the game that he could.
Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin

The Colts' Kicking the Stigma initiative launched in 2020. It has worked to "raise awareness around mental health and combat the feelings of shame associated with mental illness." Shaquille Leonard helped spearhead the movement into relevancy alongside current Colts owner Kalen Jackson, the daughter of the late Jim Irsay.

Leonard's journey with mental health has been a root cause for his dedication to helping others. He began having anxiety attacks when he was 17 years old, shortly after his older brother, Keivonte Waters, was killed in 2012. “When I was young, especially as a male and an athlete, you were taught to be tough, to not show tears or emotions,” Leonard said.

It wasn't until Leonard collapsed while an undergrad at South Carolina State that he began to take his mental health seriously. Doctors attributed his collapse to an irregular heartbeat directly caused by stress, Leonard told the New York Times in 2022. Three years after his brother's passing, Leonard began to see a therapist at the university.

His openness to sharing his story and his own battles became a prominent focal point for the team's Kicking the Stigma initiative, which involved the team wearing mental health-focused shirts before games, as well as speaking engagements hosted by the Irsay family, which Leonard would regularly attend.

Just five years later, nearly half of the teams in the NFL have either donated or participated in a joint service project with the Colts' Kicking the Stigma movement.

Leonard's commitment to mental health advocacy remains prominent within his own foundation as well. To this day, if you dial 1-833-MANIAC4, you will be directed to "Maniac's Monthly Message," where Leonard himself has recorded an encouraging message to those dealing with tough times.

Leonard notably made headlines in November of 2023, when his annual Maniac Foundation Thanksgiving giveaway helped provide 200 meals along with the help of fellow Colts teammates. Just hours prior, however, news broke that Leonard had been let go by the team.

The Maniac's legacy didn't quite last as long as many had envisioned following his record-shattering start to his career, but his impact in Indianapolis and in his local community in Lakeview cannot be undone nor forgotten.

When teams preach about high-quality character in players and good locker room culture, Shaquille Leonard was an athlete that every general manager, player, or coach would've been privileged to have on their team.

Leonard will be honored at halftime this Sunday on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for his remarkable career, but more importantly, the permanent footprint he leaves in the city of Indianapolis and in the hearts of Colts fans worldwide.

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