Bears and Ryan Pace praise “underrated” (and highly paid) Leonard Floyd

I would make an argument that Leonard Floyd is the most divisive player on the Bears right now. Mitch Trubisky seems like the runaway candidate until you realize everyone already feels the same way about him.

Floyd, on the other hand, gets a lot of love from the All-The-Tools gang while garnering equal amounts of hate from people who swear by Pro Football Focus. He's an incredibly athletic, situationally-useful edge rusher who just can't really get to the passer. Is there value in that? Of course! How much? I don't know, but it's probably not $13 million. That's how much Floyd, who had a career-low 3 sacks last season, is going to make in 2020, and it's surely a number the Bears are taking a long look at this winter. Thirteen million is a lot of money for an edge rusher who shows up in the box score; it's certainly a lot of money for an edge rusher who doesn't.

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You would think this predicament might open the Bears up to some sort of contract restructuring, or even a trade. Every moment of media availability at the combine is just a chance for general managers to set smokescreens, but it sure doesn't sound like the Bears are trying to move on.

"I think Leonard wants to be more productive as a pass rusher," GM Ryan Pace said on Tuesday morning. "We want him to be more productive there too. He's close in a lot of areas when you look at the pressures and those things. He just needs to finish a little better on the quarterback. But I think when you're evaluating him, you have to factor in everything. His run defense. His ability in coverage."

"We consider him our 'Sam' outside linebacker, so we value what he can do in coverage and think sometimes that goes a little underrated for what he does in that area. Not many outside linebackers can drop in coverage like he does. So, that's a factor."

Maybe that's what the Bears WANT us to think! Maybe Pace is playing chess while we're all playing checkers. Or maybe he has a problem knowing when to cut bait with a high draft pick who hasn't panned out.