Chicago Bears: Leonard Floyd ready to break out in 2019
After three mostly frustrating seasons with the Chicago Bears, Leonard Floyd hasn’t dealt with an injury this offseason. He feels ready to break out in 2019.
The Chicago Bears had the most dominating defense in the NFL in 2019. They ranked first in total points, turnovers caused and total rushing defense, and were in the top 10 in every statistical category. They expect much of the same this season despite the departure of coordinator Vic Fangio.
The Bears picked up one of the best defenders in the league in Khalil Mack. That move energized the team and the defense led the way to a 12-4 record and NFC North champions. It seemed everyone on the defense picked up their game after watching how hard Khalil Mack worked.
Everyone it seemed, except Leonard Floyd.
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With Mack wreaking havoc wherever he played, attracting double-teams, the expectation was that Floyd would be free to do his thing. While he flashed some of his abilities that made the Bears brass move up in the 2016 draft to make him the ninth overall pick, he wasn’t consistent enough. He had the lowest sack total of his career in 2018, though he had a career-high 47 tackles (and a career-high nine tackles for loss).
Of course, a big reason for that was due to injury. While he didn’t miss any games last season, Floyd suffered a fractured hand in the preseason that bothered him throughout the season.
That has been the story of Floyd’s career in Chicago. When healthy, he shows his incredible speed and athletic ability. He hasn’t been able to stay healthy, however. He missed 10 games in his first two seasons and dealt with his hand injury in 2018.
Things are different this offseason, however. He spent last offseason rehabbing from knee surgery. This offseason, he’s just been working on bulking up and not recovering from anything. In his rookie season, he weighed just 235 pounds. He’s now over 250 pounds and ready for the rigors of the NFL season. He and the Bears feel that will make a big difference in 2019, per the Chicago Tribune:
"“I believe I was playing my best football during the second half of last year after I really got over my hand injury. I felt like I was playing a lot better and I am looking forward to this year and just building off of that.”"
New outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino, who worked to make Terrell Suggs a great player in college and with the Baltimore Ravens, now works to bring out the best in Floyd. He’s working on having Floyd use countermeasures to use off his speed and explosiveness. When he does that, he’ll get to the quarterback just a tick quicker and those near sacks will turn into actual sacks.
So far, Floyd is impressing his teammates. Linebacker Danny Trevathan notices a difference and made a bold statement. He feels that opposing offenses need to start double-teaming Floyd now. That means Mack will see one-on-ones, more bad news for teams facing that vaunted Bears defense. Imagine a poor lineman trying to take on Mack without help.
Trevathan voiced all of this, also per the Chicago Tribune:
"“I don’t know many linemen you got, but you better put some more on there because he’s been putting his best foot forward. He’s been working his tail off and he’s been learning this defense in and out. I’ve been seeing him be more explosive, putting on a little more weight, a lot stronger, a lot more fundamentally sound and he appreciates each day and he’s getting the most out of it. You gotta pick ranch or blue cheese, you gotta pick one or the other.”"
The Bears hope that is the case in 2019. They picked up his fifth-year option, which guarantees Floyd $13.22 million. At the moment it guarantees the money only if he suffers an injury, however. If he wants that money, however, he needs to have that breakout season that the team expects.
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The time is now for Leonard Floyd to finally put together the season that the Chicago Bears expected from him since 2016. If he does, we could expect some great things from this defense and a true Super Bowl run.