Richie Leone (born March 10, 1992) is a gridiron football punter for the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starting ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played collegiate football for the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

. He has also been a member of the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, Pittsburgh Steelers,

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

, and Arizona Cardinals.

Early career

Leone played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Roswell High School at the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, punter, and kicker positions. While in high school, he averaged 44.1 yards per kick. From 2010 to 2013, Leone played college football for the Houston Cougars as a punter and kicker and started for all four years. He was on the Conference USA first-team in 2012 and the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

second-team in 2013. Leone was also a three-time semi-finalist for the

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National F ...

. He averaged 43.1 yards on punts and placed the ball within the opponents' 20-yard line on 52.4 percent of attempts during 2013. In his senior year, Leone was named a second-team All-American.

Professional career

Baltimore Ravens

Leone was one of five punters invited to the 2014

NFL scouting combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

. He went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, but was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

on May 12, 2014. Leone competed with

Sam Koch Samuel David Koch ( ; born August 13, 1982) is a former American football punter who played for the Baltimore Ravens for his entire 16-year career in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Ravens in the sixth round of the 20 ...

for the punter position in training camp, and played in three preseason games. He was waived on August 25 before the beginning of the regular season.

BC Lions

Leone was signed by the

of the

(CFL) on October 20, 2014, to their practice roster, but left the team a month later.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On January 27, 2015, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Leone to challenge Brad Wing for the starting punter position, but he was released in May.

BC Lions (II)

Leone returned to the

(CFL) before their training camp as the Lions reportedly searched for a single player to handle punting, kickoffs, and kicking. Leone remained on the active roster after the preseason as he fulfilled all three kicking duties. He made his CFL debut against the

on July 4, 2015, where he scored two field goals from 11 and 13 yards as well as an extra point. The following game, on July 10, Leone kicked a 56-yard field goal, setting a BC Lions record for longest field goal and tying the game against the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

29–29 with 31 seconds remaining; a game which the Lions won in overtime. As of August 3, 2015, Leone had the highest punt average in the CFL (50.1 yards). He began his season with 13 consecutive made field goals before missing a 46-yard kick on August 6 in a game against the Edmonton Eskimos. Leone was named a CFL All-Star as a punter in both the 2015 and 2016 season. Following the 2016 season Leone was granted a release by the Lions so he could sign with an NFL team.

Arizona Cardinals

On January 5, 2017, Leone signed a reserve/future contract with the Arizona Cardinals. He was waived on September 2, 2017.

Ottawa Redblacks

On April 10, 2018, he was signed by the

. He was named an East Division All-Star as a punter at season's end. In the following season, he was named both a divisional and CFL All-Star at punter. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Leone opted out of his contract with the Redblacks on August 25, 2020.

Arizona Cardinals (II)

On September 8, 2020, Leone was signed to the Arizona Cardinals practice squad. He was released on September 15.

Ottawa Redblacks (II)

Leone re-signed with the Ottawa Redblacks on January 26, 2021. Leone had another outstanding season in 2021 with Ottawa, and was named a CFL All-Star for the fourth time in his career. He was again named a CFL All-Star in 2023.

Season statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leone, Richie 1992 births Living people Players of American football from Roswell, Georgia American football placekickers American football punters Players of Canadian football from Georgia (U.S. state) Canadian football placekickers Canadian football punters Houston Cougars football players Baltimore Ravens players BC Lions players Pittsburgh Steelers players Arizona Cardinals players Ottawa Redblacks players