Overshadowed for the most part in the hand-wringing over the offense and special teams that followed the Bears’ 10-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the performance of linebacker Leonard Floyd – two sacks of Aaron Rodgers, a third negated by a penalty, four solo tackles, two for losses – was loosely dubbed a breakout game.
It wasn’t, if only because a casual back look over the last half of 2018 and at Floyd’s history against the Packers (more on that later) would reveal why the Bears had no hesitation picking up the fifth-year option on Floyd’s rookie contract, a step that projects to cost the Bears more than $13 million for an edge rusher who has yet to match the 7.5 sacks of his rookie season.
Questions may still hang over the Bears’ decision to trade up in 2017 to draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Not so with dealing up two slots in the 2016 first round to beat the New York Giants to Floyd.
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Floyd has become arguably the most versatile player on one of the NFL’s best defenses, or if not the most, then in a virtual tie with Roquan Smith – players with above-average abilities to rush a passer, defend a pass receiver, break up a pass, play stout against bigger blockers and set an edge or line in the sand against the run.
Despite playing the early part of the 2018 season with a cast/club protecting a right hand injured in preseason, Floyd had 11 quarterback hits, tied with Roy Robertson-Harris and trailing only Khalil Mack (18) and Akiem Hicks (16), three full-on linemen, to go with five sacks for his rush resume in 2018 (including the Bears’ lone sack in the playoff loss to Philadelphia). With that were four pass breakups and an interception returned for a touchdown at Buffalo.
Over the past seven games, no Bears player, including Hicks or Mack (4.5 each), has matched Floyd’s total of six sacks, with two pass breakups, and only Mack has had more quarterback hits over that span than Floyd’s 10.
“I’d say getting off the ball with no false steps, using my speed to set up my other moves,” Floyd self-assessed, then added, “and do that on a consistent basis.”
NFL
Floyd no longer endures endless questions about his weight, or lack of. His 240 pounds appear to be just fine at holding the point against the run, and his sacks against the Packers came despite a 70-pound disadvantage vs. Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari.
Nor are there concerns about his injury proclivities, which came into question his first three seasons, in which he missed four games in 2016 with a calf injury and later a concussion. That was followed by six games missed in 2017 with knee injury that landed him on IR, and even last season when he was forced to play with a wrapped cast covering a fractured hand suffered in preseason against the Broncos in Denver.
“He’s expanded his toolbox as far as pass rush,” said defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano. “I think he understands launch points of quarterbacks and they’re all different based on down and distance and situations, so I think the finish part that coach is talking about at the top of the pocket, we’ve seen it in practice.”
The Packers in particular have seen Floyd’s “it.” In seven career games vs. Green Bay, he has 7.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits plus his one forced fumble and touchdown.
Recovery, and then some
Floyd’s 2018 was a year that started with an asterisk and finished with an exclamation point. He was hampered by that huge wrap on his right hand through the first four games and then by some hesitancy and tentativeness in the first few games after the hand was “freed,” then-coordinator Vic Fangio concluded.
Not surprisingly perhaps, Floyd had zero sacks and one tackle for loss through the first eight games. Then over the final eight, he delivered eight tackles for loss and all four of his sacks.
“Last year, halfway through the season, he turned it on,” coach Matt Nagy said. “You could really feel him.”
The ascent continued into the playoff loss to Philadelphia in which Floyd was credited with two hits on Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, one sack, a tackle for loss, three total tackles, and a pass broken up – five defensive categories. No other Bears defender marked in more than three.
“Yeah, he's been a guy that really, after this past year, he got to the offseason and now we have a new defensive coordinator in Coach Pagano,” Nagy said. “Leonard hasn't skipped a beat. When I see him back there, I see ‘52’ [Mack] on one side and Leonard on the other side, someone that's very slippery, we all know he has that wiggle.
“But he's very, very eager to learn every single day. He's a sponge. He wants to learn, and I hear this from the coaches. He wants every piece of advice he can get. He's very focused, very driven, smart player. Now, it's just a matter of him producing and doing it this year. I think he's excited to do that. But I see a lot of great things from him.”