Riley Leonard Forced to Make Sad NFL Combine Admission as Marcus Freeman’s Blunder Wrecks Notre Dame QB’s Draft Stock

Even before the 2024 college football season, Riley Leonard was considered to be one of the early picks for the 2025 NFL draft. Jordan Reid, NFL draft expert for ESPN, predicted it long before his successful season with the Fighting Irish. “Riley Leonard of Notre Dame is one name to keep an eye on. A year from now, he could be looking at a potential early-round pick,” Reid said in June 2024. A year later, while Riley did lead the Fighting Irish to a championship game, was it good enough for a potential early-round pick? Well, numbers do not lie. With just a 78.9 rating, the Fighting Irish QB was ranked 14th on quarterback rankings. And now when the 22-year-old considers himself ready for the NFL, the Irish prodigy has come clean on his weakness and strengths at the ongoing NFL combine.

Leonard opted out of the Senior Bowl right after a hectic season and just came fresh off an eventful one at Indianapolis for the NFL Combine this weekend. The former Notre Dame QB put on a show this past Saturday, wowing scouts with a series of jaw-dropping throws. But did he manage to shake off the lingering narrative that labels him as “just a runner”? That’s still up for debate.

Granted that the QB impressed the scouts with his long-range passing skills at Lucas Oil Stadium in Saturday’s NFL Scouting Combine, he, nonetheless, had to hustle for months to get to this point. There’s little doubt that he still has some ceiling that he needs to work on being the elite QB he is always meant to be. So what are his lowest points in the resume?

”I think when you pull up my tape, yeah my best playing is when I’m playing fast; my feet are fast. If you pull up my two-minute tape and second half’s when we’re down and we need to score that’s when I’m playing at my best,” the Irish prodigy made a candid confession in a pre-combine interview with NBC Sports.

Despite the fact that skittish footwork could be a real menace or even a deal-breaker in his resume, he expects the NFL higher-ups to understand his knack and instincts and make him play that way. He added,  ”I think NFL offense really complements my feet and makes me play Fast right especially when you’re under center. So when my feet are in the ground playing fast and I’m on time, I think, I’m very accurate but when I’m lack… in the pocket, you know as a longer guy I can get inaccurate.”

Leonard has a lot of reasons to catch the eyes of the NFL scouts, even with all his shortcomings. He is a beauty with the deep ball touch, hitting targets in tight windows and in various other aspects. But it seemed Marcus Freeman’s one decision during a gut-wrenching loss against Ohio State in the final added to his woes even more amidst the draft speculation.

Riley Leonard explained a blunder that made his NFL stock suffer late in the season

The opening drive of the night concluded with Leonard running for a touchdown after three consecutive plays. But the execution was a bit too risky for the QB’s health, leading to a questionable execution. The 22-year-old vested a lot of energy during the 18-play drive, including nine designed carries and surpassing Ohio State’s pass rush.

However, during the opening play, he was visibly uncomfortable. He rushed to the bench and appeared to throw up on the sidelines. The first drive cost Notre Dame more than it offered them as they finished the game with just 53 yards rushing despite possessing an elite offensive unit on the ground. Leonard’s early exhaustion actually flipped the script of the game for the worse.

“That drive, you know obviously didn’t feel too great on my body, but I didn’t really feel it too much. I had a lot of time to recover on the sideline after that one, but I was definitely a little hurt out there. It probably looked like I didn’t run the ball as much the rest of the game, but a little bit of that was just due to the circumstances, given that we were down by a lot going into halftime,’‘ the QB phenom said after the game.

If they would win the trophy, undoubtedly, it would certainly add a major boost to Riley’s NFL stock. But never mind, he is still there in the race, hustling, grinding to the best of his ability.