Can Shaquille Leonard regain his footing in time to steady Eagles’ linebacker carousel?

Midway through the 2019 season, Shaquille Leonard dug up a college highlight clip to send to Nick Sirianni.

The linebacker, playing for the Indianapolis Colts at the time, had gotten Sirianni’s attention with an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and made a compelling case to his offensive coordinator that he may be of service on the other side of the ball.

Leonard, 28, started college at South Carolina State as a 6-foot, 180-pound wide receiver before quickly transitioning to an undersized linebacker. Even after making the fortuitous switch, he moonlit as a receiver at times and caught a touchdown pass against Savannah State in 2016.

When Sirianni commented on Leonard’s fluidity picking off Jameis Winston during his second year in the NFL, Leonard reminded him of that receiver background, inciting Sirianni’s imagination about an offensive package featuring his team’s star defensive player.

“He got his hands on the ball and made a catch like a receiver would, and then took it to the house for like 60-some yards,” Sirianni said earlier this week. “I remember him after that saying, ‘Coach, I played receiver, too,’ and showed me a post he ran at South Carolina State where he made a really nice play. I remember watching that and said, ‘Man, I probably could put him in there on a post.’”

Now reunited with the Eagles, Sirianni is hoping the ball skills and athleticism that once made Leonard one of the best off-ball linebackers in the NFL are still at his employ to some degree. Leonard signed with the Eagles earlier this week, released by the Colts late last month after the heavy toll of consecutive back surgeries led to him struggling on the field, falling on the depth chart, and eventually getting waived just three years removed from becoming the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL.

The expectations for Leonard are tempered, and understandably so. The Colts limited his role in passing situations earlier this season and eventually used him less on early downs as well.

The Eagles’ bet is that he can improve a position group that’s lack of depth was laid bare one week ago in a 42-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Even if he can’t recapture the level of play that made him a three-time All-Pro in five seasons, Leonard said time is what will make the biggest difference.

“I’m just trying to get acclimated back again,” Leonard said. “Playing football and getting my feet back up under me.”

“It’s not just proving to Indy that I can still play,” Leonard added. “I want to prove to myself that I still can play. That’s why I continue to grind as hard as I possibly can and put my best foot forward.”

» READ MORE: Thumbs up or down? Eagles beat writers weigh in on the Shaquille Leonard signing

Leonard’s improbable path to the NFL was rooted in speed and confidence.

He was overlooked coming out of high school because of his smaller size, but switched to linebacker his first year at South Carolina State. He quickly learned the essential role his athleticism would play for him when contending with hulking linemen with significant weight advantages over him.

“You got to have speed and you have to be smart,” Leonard said. “You have to understand who’s blocking you and how can you cheat your alignment so the bigger guys can’t get on you. And I’m blessed to have extremely long arms so I use my length to my advantage. I punch, I feel like I use my hands well. I feel like that’s what it really comes down to, speed and being smart and using your length.”

“I don’t think size was really a factor, it just felt like a mentality,” Leonard added. “The mentality was just playing aggressive, flying around, and just swarming to the ball.”

Leonard, the 2018 defensive rookie of the year, also developed a quick reputation for ball skills in the NFL with 12 career interceptions and 17 forced fumbles. One forced fumble came against Eagles backup quarterback Marcus Mariota when he was the starter for the Tennessee Titans facing Leonard’s Colts twice a year in the AFC South.

“He’s an unbelievable athlete,” Mariota said. “Ball-aware is a good way to put it; he’s always attacking at it especially as a ballcarrier and then he’s got a great feel recognizing pass concepts. He’s had his fair share against me. He seems to always be in the right spot. Making those plays is a token to not only who he is as an athlete, but also mentally as well.”

That’s where the confidence of being a former receiver comes in, Leonard said.

“You can see a lot of defensive guys, when the ball is in the air, they panic,” he said. “When the ball is in the air for me, you know it’s more just calmness and hands working together and just trusting what I’m seeing and trusting my ability to catch the ball. Then, whenever I got the ball in my hand, it’s not like I’m a stranger to it. I know how to run with it and how to tuck it away, I think that receiver background really helps me out.”

The speed that made Leonard such a danger in the middle of the field has yet to return to him.

He spent the previous offseason going through an arduous recovery from two surgeries in five months to repair an impinged nerve in his back.

He couldn’t run for nearly six months. Then came the work to rebuild trust using his previously troublesome left leg, and go through a variety of simple but challenging movements to regain his strength.

“It was tough,” Leonard said. “Just being able to plant, being able to trust it. Not being able to run. It was tough to kind of get back into it, bending at the waist, loading each side and stuff like that.”

It’s been an ongoing process for Leonard, who is more focused on the mental side of things rather than the physical.

“You have to build confidence in it,” Leonard said. “You have to continue to work on that week in and week out and still now, I’m just working on it trying to get better and more confident. It’s something that you have to build. I feel like the more games I play, being around the ball more, even if I don’t hit top speed, as long as I’m around the ball and being in the right position, I feel fine with it.”

» READ MORE: NFL bans Eagles security chief Dom DiSandro from the sideline on Sunday

Leonard’s production this season suggests he can still offer something to the Eagles’ depleted linebacking corps.

He’s got 65 total tackles while playing 70% of the Colts’ defensive snaps this year. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s given up 17 catches for 158 yards on 22 targets while playing 208 coverage snaps.

When asked what Leonard could bring to the group a few days removed from watching his defense concede 213 yards after the catch to a talented 49ers offense, Sirianni said the traits that helped the linebacker catch that touchdown pass in college are still apparent.

“It’s just his length, his instinct, his ability to finish on the ball,” Sirianni said. “Those are special qualities that he’s had for a long time. That length is hard to throw around, both horizontally and vertically.”

Leonard’s counting stats put him in line with Nicholas Morrow and Zach Cunningham, the two linebackers he’ll presumably be working with as early as this Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles’ lack of investment in the position group has caused a carousel of starters this year and an in-game rotation for most of the season.

The effort to get Leonard acclimated has been a familiar, but fervent process since he joined the team on Tuesday. The Eagles’ defense has now integrated several mid-season additions into the starting lineup, including slot cornerback Bradley Roby and safety Kevin Byard.

“We want him out there,” Cunningham said. “We need him out there.”

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Britain Covey flashes pink cleats for yards, and a charity close to his family’s heart