Block or Not: Leonard Floyd

It would seem that Leonard Floyd is a no-brainer as a building block of the future, but after two years, that can’t be considered a guarantee.

There’s no question about it, when Leonard Floyd has been on the field, he has shown why Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears made Floyd the 9th overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft and traded up to do so. Floyd has shown the ability to drop into coverage, has made some nice plays against the run, and most importantly, Floyd is the pass rusher that the Bears envisioned.

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The problem with Floyd is that it has reached a point where the team needs to question his durability. During his rookie campaign, Floyd suffered two concussions, missed four games, and had serious issues recovering from the second one.

During his second year, Floyd missed six games after injuring both the MCL and PCL in his right knee. That’s 10 missed games in just two seasons and for two different issues. This means Floyd enters a critical third year to prove his durability.

Floyd has shown enough ability that you would have to think that after this season, the Bears will exercise their fifth-year option on Floyd to make sure he is secured for that additional season, but that will also give the Bears two years to judge Floyd’s durability to give them a better idea if they can commit a high dollar extension to the Georgia product.

If Floyd proves that these two past issues are more flukish and he stays on the field for 2018 and 2019, you would expect the Bears to commit to him like they hope to do. However, if Floyd struggles to stay on the field and misses 30-40% of the games over the next couple of seasons, the Bears may question if they can pay him as a top defensive player.

At this point, the Bears are absolutely planning on committing to Floyd when that time comes, but that could change if Floyd struggles to stay on the field the next two seasons. If Floyd proves he’s durable, this decision is an obvious one. If he proves to be injury-prone, that plan could change in a couple of years.

Leonard Floyd: Block or Not? BLOCK