Colts’ Darius Leonard held out of OTAs: All-Pro LB still dealing with ankle issue a year after having surgery

For the second consecutive week, Darius Leonard has been a mere spectator at the Colts‘ organized team activities. The All-Pro linebacker continues to deal with issues surrounding his left ankle, which required surgery last June. While the ankle is still giving him some issues, the team currently doesn’t believe Leonard needs a similar procedure at any point this summer.

“We’re just taking it day by day, trying to see what, exactly, we’re dealing with, how we can get it to respond and make some progress,” head coach Frank Reich told reporters, via USA Today.

At the time of his surgery last year, the ailment was described as minor and more of a clean-up than anything else. However, Leonard missed the first two weeks of training camp and was limited through the 2021 season, despite playing (and starting) in 16 games. Even with the injury, Leonard was able to put together a first-team All-Pro campaign during which he posted 122 tackles, four interceptions, and a league-leading eight forced fumbles. 

“It’s attached, it’s there,” Leonard said of the ankle. “It feels a whole lot better than what it did, coming from the end of the season. A lot of time to rest, trying to make it stronger. I feel better coming into this season than I did last year, I can say that.”

While Leonard does note some progress, it’s still worrisome that things are not progressing as quickly as most hoped. 

“Sometimes when you’re going through something and you hit a lull, you can’t get over a hump, you’ve got to stop and pause and say ‘Why aren’t we getting over this hump?’” Reich said. “That’s a little bit of what it is with Darius.”

Given where we are in the NFL calendar, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Indy continue to limit Leonard to further curb any sort of re-aggravation and ensure he’ll be as close to full-go for training camp as possible.