The Colts have downgraded LB Zaire Franklin to doubtful for Sunday's game against the Panthers for the knee injury that kept him out of practice all week. That should leave Shaquille Leonard and E.J. Speed as the top two LBs for Indy in this game. Check our Week 9 LB rankings to see how high each has risen.

Colts LB Shaquille Leonard sustained a concussion in a joint practice with the Bears late last week and has landed in the league protocol. HC Shane Steichen said, "He should be back soon." Leonard has struggled with injuries over the past couple of years but has generated buzz in camp this summer. With plenty of time to rebound from this concussion before the regular season, Leonard should remain in your IDP draft plans. He's not moving off a high perch in our IDP rankings.

Nate Atkins of the Indianapolis Star reports that Colts LB Shaquille Leonard "is moving well and popping people" in practice so far. That's especially good news for the 28-year-old who lost basically all of last summer to a back injury that required surgery. Before that, Leonard was hampered by a nagging ankle issue that limited his practice time even as he was playing through it. At full health, Leonard has been a dominant scorer for IDP leagues. He opened the year inside the top 10 LBs in our IDP rankings. A healthy camp and preseason just might push the Colt even higher.

Colts LB Shaquille Leonard will not only miss this week's game, but also at least the 3 after that. The team has placed him on IR following a setback with his troublesome back. Leonard had surgery in June, then didn't appear in a game until Week 4. A concussion and facial injury then sidelined him until Week 8. Leonard has yet to exceed 54% playing time in his 3 appearances. Indianapolis has a Week 14 bye, so Leonard will now be out until at least Week 15. And even then, he'll be a poor bet to return at full playing time. He's droppable in nearly all redraft formats.

The Colts added LB Shaquille Leonard to the injury report Thursday after he missed practice with back and ankle issues. It might have been a rest/maintenance day for the veteran, but it's the 1st practice he has missed since Week 6. So it's clearly not a good thing. We'll see what Friday holds for him.

Colts LB Shaquille Leonard is questionable for Sunday's game against the Titans after what HC Frank Reich called "three pretty good days" of practice, according to NFL.com. Reich said Leonard won't be back to 100% even if he plays and that they'll have to determine whether he can play "at a high level" in spite of the injury. We'll see about his status Sunday morning. Leonard will be risky in his return, but the ceiling is high enough to be on him in most cases if the player and team deem him well enough to play after 3 weeks down.

The Colts went without several defensive starters in Wednesday's practice. LB Darius Leonard (ankle), DE Kwity Paye (hamstring), S Khari Willis (ankle, groin) and CB Rock Ya-Sin (ankle) all missed the workout. Leonard sustained his injury last week and missed Thursday's practice before playing through it at Tennessee. The other 3 left Sunday's game early. We'll see about the progress for each throughout the week.

Despite only putting in a single, limited practice Friday (ankle, illness), Colts LB Darius Leonard carries no game status on the final injury report of the week. So he appears good for his usual workload Sunday against the Rams.

Colts LB Darius Leonard has missed the 1st 2 days of practice this week. The Colts listed him with an ankle issue Wednesday. Thursday found him listed with the ankle and an illness. We'll see about Leonard's participation Friday. The ankle issue kept him out of Friday practice last week, but he then carried no injury designation into the game against the Seahawks and saw full playing time.

Colts GM Chris Ballard says LB Darius Leonard has had an ankle "procedure" in early June, according to Mike Chappell of FOX59. Ballard said the team will monitor him but that there's "no reason for concern," despite conceding that the LB will miss some early practices. Leonard missed 2 games last season, but a groin injury was the culprit. We'll keep an eye out for anything further on this situation. For now, though, we'll take Ballard at his word and not adjust our outlook for Leonard.