Darius Leonard isn’t too pleased by the upcoming draft class. While NFL analysts are frothing at the mouth with the wide variety of talent available, Leonard believes regardless of the talent, the players should be more reserved than they are.
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Darius Leonard has been one of the best the moment he stepped into the NFL limelight. After falling to the 2nd round in the 2018 NFL draft, Leonard has since then made 2 Pro Bowls and named an All-Pro. Thus, after making it to the top, Leonard had some advice for the upcoming talents.
Highest-graded LBs of 2020:
1. Lavonte David – 87.0
2. Bobby Wagner – 86.2
3. Myles Jack – 85.7
4. Fred Warner – 80.3
5. Darius Leonard – 79.5 pic.twitter.com/gn3cDz8pVO— PFF (@PFF) November 21, 2020
Darius Leonard advised players to grind instead.
After having been in the league for 3 years, Leonard had words of wisdom for the prospects to approach the league and the media.
In a tweet Leonard put out on Wednesday, he warned incoming rookies of the 2021 draft class to be careful of what they say and how frequently they do so. Leonard claimed the media will do everything they can to twist a player’s words if that player doesn’t live up to expectations.
This draft class talks too much for me! Let your work do the talking cause if you’re doing all this talking to the media or in social media and you don’t perform like you expect yourself to these media guys going to use it against ya! Keep ya mouth closed and grind! That’s it!
— Darius Leonard (@dsleon45) April 7, 2021
His tweet may have been a mix of subtle shots and valuable words of advice. Leonard was the 5th Line-backer taken in his draft, so he undoubtedly prefers the “actions speak louder than words” approach when it comes to rookie evaluation.
Darius Leonard was coincidentally a part of the same draft as QB Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen was taken with the 10th pick in the draft. He infamously commented later that he would prove that the 9 teams that went before him had made a mistake. Josh Rosen has proven anything but that. Rosen is now in his 3rd team and is already a backup 3 seasons in his career.
This draft class talks too much for me! Let your work do the talking cause if you’re doing all this talking to the media or in social media and you don’t perform like you expect yourself to these media guys going to use it against ya! Keep ya mouth closed and grind! That’s it!
— Darius Leonard (@dsleon45) April 7, 2021
Some people also replied to Leonard’s tweet and said that he himself falls into the category of players that talk too much. However, he has definitely proven that he has earned the right talk after his monster performances on the field. He also had a message for incoming free agents set to sign with the Colts, making sure they understood what kind of culture they were getting into.
Free agents!! If y’all are thinking about coming to the Colts and play defense just know that we don’t want you if you don’t play hard, run to the ball, make plays or not willing to sacrifice yourself for ya teammate to make the play! Don’t care how big or little ya name is!
— Darius Leonard (@dsleon45) February 13, 2021
Darius Leonard is primed to be an anchor for the stellar Indianapolis Colts defence once again. It’ll be interesting to see how these rookies fare after the NFL Draft and into the 2021 season, as this is a group that has high expectations from nearly everybody.
