Shocking news: A crucial player who agreed to sign a five-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts is confirmed dead.

Shocking news: A crucial player who agreed to sign a five-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts is confirmed dead.

INDIANAPOLIS: Darius Leonard had always thought he was the NFL’s best linebacker. The Indianapolis Colts saw to it that his salary reflected that.

According to a person with knowledge of the agreement, the two-time All-Pro decided on Sunday to accept a five-year contract extension worth $99.25 million, which includes $52 million in guaranteed money. Because the team has not made the terms public, the individual asked to remain anonymous.

For the time being at least, Leonard is the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL thanks to his contract, which surpasses the five-year, $95.225 million deal Fred Warner recently signed with San Francisco.

With a Colts cowboy hat on, Leonard declared, “I’m a competitor, so if you aren’t first, you’re last.” “I don’t take for granted the fact that my name is at the top right now. I need to keep going out and demonstrating my ability to play.”

The announcement was made by team officials between Edgerrin James’ Saturday induction speech into the Hall of Fame and Peyton Manning’s Sunday scheduled induction speech, both while the Indianapolis players were still on the practice field. It was anticipated that Manning’s former coach, Frank Reich, would be present at the event.

Whether Leonard is on the field or the sidelines, where he has spent the last two weeks recovering from ankle surgery in early June, everyone can see the difference he makes. He plays with a chip on his shoulder, exudes contagious energy, and won’t accept anything less than the best. Reich doesn’t think that will alter right now either.

“He doesn’t know how to turn it off, you know what I mean?” Reich stated. He takes great pride in his playing and performance, as well as the standards he sets for himself. For him, that would be the least of my concerns. Simply delighted for him, as it is richly merited.”

Leonard wanted to get everything finished before Indy’s Sept. 12 season opener against Seattle. And he already knows what he wants to do with the money: he wants to help his family and buy a piece of land on which to build a house.

Leonard shared his childhood tale in The Players Tribune in December. He talked about sharing a twin bed with his brother Keivonte and growing up with two older brothers incarcerated, three sisters in one bedroom, and four boys in another. He has also talked about the sadness he has experienced since Keivonte’s death on December 15, 2012.

“It’s time for her to just sit back and relax and the worst part about it, everybody knows my story, my brother got killed when he was 18, I was 17, and this is what he dreamed of,” Leonard said on Sunday. “For him not to be here with me to witness this, that’s the only thing that really sucks.”

The agreement completes Indianapolis’s top two off-season priorities and keeps Leonard off the free agent market. Braden Smith, a right tackle, was signed by the Colts in late July to a four-year, $72.4 million contract.

It was anticipated that Leonard’s extension would be a huge hit.

2018 saw him lead the NFL in tackles, earning him the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year Award as well as his first All-Pro selection. He was again named to the All-Pro team in the previous season and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2019 and 2020.

“So happy for this terrific young man,” Jim Irsay, the owner of the team, tweeted.

The former South Carolina State standout has 416 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, and nine forced fumbles in 42 games—all starts. Moreover, he has seven interceptions, one of which he successfully returned for a touchdown. In his first three seasons, he became the 10th player since 1987 to surpass the 400-tackle threshold.

Leonard had 132 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and three sacks in 14 games with the starting lineup in 2020. He has the highest average of 9.9 tackles per game since joining the league. As the Colts attempt to replace middle linebacker Anthony Walker, who signed a free agent contract with Cleveland, Leonard may have an even larger role this season.

“Wow, are we excited to have the leader of our defense, a cornerstone of our defense and this team back,” Reich stated. “As we all know, Darius is an amazing leader who elevates the game. He is a masterful playmaker. We think he is tops in the league at what he does.”