Shaq Leonard's encouraging bounce-back performance

[time2rock]

Shaq Leonard's encouraging bounce-back performance

Shaq Leonard is at the center of an intriguing linebacker picture as the Eagles approach the playoffs. 

By Reuben Frank • Published December 29, 2023

 

Fair to say the first two weeks, Shaq Leonard didn’t look like Shaq Leonard. 

What he did look like was a guy coming off two back surgeries on a new team learning a new defense getting used to new teammates after not playing for a month.

Rusty is one way to put it.

"I wouldn’t say, ‘That wasn’t me’ - it was me,” Leonard said Thursday. "It was just more so just getting used to everything. Getting used to the game and just wanting to get better each and every week. That's my mentality. Each week I've been getting better and better. So I hope I can continue to build off that.”

Including nine games with the Colts and his first two games with the Eagles, Leonard had no sacks, no quarterback hit and two tackles for loss, 

On Monday vs. the Giants , he had a sack, a quarterback hit and two tackles for loss.

"I felt good, I felt confident,” he said. "Felt confident going in. Kind of knew the run fits. Kind of knew where they wanted me in the passing game. So I just felt good about where I was going in there and playing.”

Leonard said he’s enjoyed the process of learning a new team and not only a new defense but another new defense after Matt Patricia replaced Sean Desai just two weeks after he arrived in Philly.

"I just have an eager mind to learn and I’m willing to want to learn,” he said. "For me, man, I love football. So just learning terminology and stuff like that, I don't think it was hard. It was more so just trying to understand where the coaches want you and how they want to play the run, stuff like that. Because football is football. You just gotta figure out what terminology the other guys are using. So that was the hardest part, but besides that, it was fun.”

Leonard is at the center of an intriguing linebacker picture as the Eagles approach the playoffs. 

Zach Cunningham and Nakobe Dean were the Eagles’ opening-day starters, then Nicholas Morrow and Cunningham while Dean was out, then Dean and Cunningham, then Morrow and Cunningham, then Morrow and Ellis, then Morrow and Leonard and last week Leonard and Ben VanSumeren.

Morrow and Cunningham may both be back Sunday for the Cards game, so it will be interesting who starts and what the rotation looks like.

But it’s clear that Leonard’s play Monday vs. the Giants had made that decision a little more complicated.

When Leonard arrived here, he was asked if he felt like he had something to prove to the NFL world.

After all, he was a three-time all-pro and four-time Pro Bowler before his 27^th birthday. But two back surgeries derailed his career, ended his tenure with the Colts and ultimately led to him joining the Eagles.

His answer: "I want to prove to myself that I can still play.”

Leonard said it’s too early to answer that definitively. But he feels like he’s on the right track.

"It's still early,” he said. "I am proving to myself, but it's still too early for me to say that I've proved it. So I want to kind of continue to build off the game that I had last week and go into the offseason and look back and see what I've done and then I can say if I proved it to myself.”

But you feel like you’re trending in the right direction?

"Oh yeah.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/shaq-leonards-encouraging-bounce-back-performance/554822/

[LacesOut]

This team could use some LB production!! I don't freaking care who they put out there on the field. 

[PoconoDon]

He missed some critical tackles against the Cards. He still has a long road to get back to the player he once was. I hope he gets there.