If one were asked who’s been the most disappointing pick of the Ryan Pace era in Chicago, the easy answer would be Kevin White. After all, he’s missed damn near three full seasons with various injuries. That’s catastrophic for a seventh overall pick. So it’s little surprise he’s the runaway favorite. Yet is it also time to start questioning Leonard Floyd too?
The Bears traded up from #11 to #9 in 2016 to secure the former Georgia linebacker. They felt his mixture of size, length, and rare athleticism could turn him into a devastating pass rusher at the next level. To be fair he’s continued to show flashes of that ability with some scattered dominant performances each of the past two years.
He just can’t seem to bring it all together. Worse still he has awful luck on the injury front. Each of the past two seasons he’s been knocked out for the year by friendly fire. In 2016 he suffered not one but two concussions. Last year Kyle Fuller accidentally slammed into his knee, causing damage.
It’s been one long run of frustration.
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Vic Fangio called out for not getting more from Leonard Floyd
Amazing as it sounds, not all of the blame for this is falling on Floyd himself. One NFL exec believes some of it should be directed at the coaching staff. Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog, the same man who tipped off the hiring of Harry Hiestand earlier this year, was told that Vic Fangio and his staff haven’t done the job in developing Floyd properly.
“Vic is a good coach but that staff is not doing a great job with Floyd. All of his success is based on athleticism but he still plays undisciplined. But if he stays healthy he can still be a double-digit sack guy. Do they have another relevant rush guy?”
Part of the problem may center around the upheaval at the outside linebackers coach position. When Floyd was drafted in 2016, Clint Hurtt was his coach. Under his direct tutelage, Floyd had seven sacks. Last year though Hurtt departed for a job elsewhere. Rather than hire a replacement, Fangio declared he’d take over direct control of the outside linebackers himself.
It didn’t work out. Floyd made no notable progress with 4.5 sacks in 10 games before suffering his freak knee injury. It appears Fangio may have felt that was a mistake. This off-season the Bears hired Brandon Staley to take over as the new outside linebackers coach. While a bit of an unknown coming from Division III college, Staley developed a reputation for coaching up pass rushers. In 2014 his defense averaged 4.5 sacks per game.
Multiple top prospects including Bradley Chubb and Marcus Davenport singled him out by name as somebody they liked instantly when talking about their Bears visits. It’s possible Floyd might be in good hands this year.
