Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard has started every game this season, but his share of the playing time has not remained the same.
Leonard played 86 percent of the defensive snaps in Week One and he’s seen that percentage drop in each of the next three games. He remained around 70 percent in Weeks Two and Three, but dropped all the way to 45 percent in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Rams.
On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said the shift is about making sure Leonard gets all the way back after multiple back surgeries cost him almost all of last season.
“Obviously, he wants to play every play, all the time,” Bradley said, via Nate Atkins of the Indianapolis Star. “When we sat down and looked at it, we just felt like we’re going to have a plan in mind and follow that plan. There may be more, there may be less reps, but it’s based on how we’re going to bring him back. The ideal thing, in my mind, is to get him back sometime in November to where we have an ideal feel for where he’s at.”
Leonard was a three-time first-team All-Pro in his first four seasons and a few weeks of limited playing time will be worth it if he can get back to that level in Indianapolis.
