The Ottawa Redblacks on Wednesday re-signed punter Richie Leone. This comes a day after the Redblacks re-signed wide receiver, DeVonte Dedmon.
Leone is locked in for another year!#RNation | @RichieLeone15
— Ottawa REDBLACKS (@REDBLACKS) November 3, 2021
Redblacks Interim General Manager Jeremy Snyder on Leone said. “Richie is consistently at the top of the league in all punting statistics, and he continues to improve each season. We expect even more growth from him in the future, and it’s another building block for 2022.”
The 29-year-old from Roswell, Georgia, is in his third season with the Redblacks. He played 51 games in four seasons with the University of Houston. He had 219 punts for 9,430 yards and made 11/17 field goals, with his longest being 40-yards.
After college, Leone went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft and signed with the Baltimore Ravens. He played in three preseason games with the Ravens before being released.
After being released by the Ravens, Leone was signed to the BC Lions practice squad but left the team a month later. In 2015, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers but was released in May.
Leone returned to the BC Lions and was their kicker and punter for two seasons. He played 35 games for the Lions with 216 punts for 8,449 yards. As a kicker, he made 65 field goals, with his longest being 56-yards in 2015.
After 2016, Leone had two stints with the Arizona Cardinals but was released twice during training camp and two stints with the Ottawa Redblacks. In 2018, Leone played 18 games with 124 punts for 4,643 yards and was named to the East Division All-Star and CFL All-Star. For the next two seasons, Leone played 30 games with 223 punts for 8,942 yards.
The Ottawa Redblacks host the Toronto Argonauts this Saturday, November 6th, at 4 pm on ESPN+.
