How must Riley Leonard feel right now? He was chosen by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft with the hopes he would develop into a solid, long-term backup. In the preseason, he wasn't great. Then he got a chance to play real snaps in Week 14.
Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, starter Daniel Jones tore an Achilles tendon, and nearly immediately, the team knew he would be out for the rest of the season. In Jones' place stood Leonard. The worst was expected.
Only, Leonard wasn't awful. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 145 yards with an interception and ran a couple of times. Was he brilliant? No, but he wasn't so bad that Indy would be afraid of playing him again.
Indianapolis Colts' stance on Riley Leonard could not be more clear
After Week 15's loss to the Seattle Seahawks, though, the fact is that the Colts might be afraid to put Riley Leonard in. The quarterback, just like any competitor, must have been miffed that his team saw him play against a good Jags team, and thought so much of his performance that Indy went out the next day and signed longtime retired Philip Rivers.
Then, after not playing football for five years, Rivers was made the starter in front of Leonard for Week 15. If the younger quarterback needed any more indication of how the team felt about him, he shouldn't have after he had spent his entire season learning head coach Shane Steichen's system, only to have a once-retired QB practice for three days and take his spot.
Steichen could have designed a game plan to keep the Seahawks off-balance. The coach could have had Rivers take the majority of the snaps, knowing that Rivers couldn't run well and didn't have much arm strength, but wouldn't put the ball in danger of being taken away, but subbed in Leonard, who is much more of a threat to run the ball and has, at this point, a stronger arm.
On the final drive specifically, the Indianapolis Colts could have had Leonard play simply from the threat that he could heave the ball further down the field than Rivers.
Would there have been a chance Leonard forced a turnover after entering the game with 18 seconds left in the game? Absolutely. Just as the same chance existed for Philip Rivers, who threw an interception on the team's final offensive play.
The Colts will almost certainly keep Rivers as the starter for the remainder of the season, and likely, Riley Leonard won't make it off the bench. The rookie quarterback knows his current place on the team, and that isn't playing a real down of football.