Rd 1, #9 pick: Leonard Floyd, LB - Georgia

[wab]

But he's still behind McPhee, Houston, Young, and Acho on the depth chart and that's a tough pill to swallow for the 9th overall pick in the draft. If they cut/trade Houston or Young I'll better still.

I'm trying to figure out how the Bears benefit from cutting Houston or Young. We already have $22m in cap space and no free agents to target. Teams will cut players after the draft but... are those players going to be worth big contracts? Are those players going to be impact players?

Jerffery and Long.

I don't want to see either of them cut. Young must have some trade value (plus he's still a very good option to get after the QB on pass rush downs) plus I think Houston is going to have a good year whilst also spelling McPhee so they're both fresh. But...

We definitely want Jeffery and Long long term, freeing up space this year to front load them keeps our flexibility in the future and helps us towards the goal of being a perennial play-off team.

So yeah, we don't need to and I don't want us to as I think we could go all the way this year (I don't expect us to! Super low percentage shot) or at the least get to the playoffs and get this younger roster some invaluable experience. But it wouldn't be the worst thing.

Why on earth would we need to free up cap space? Jeffrey already counts $15m in our cap, Long is signed to his 5th year option and we still have more than $26m in available cap space - one of the highest in the league.

It's not about cap space. If you are taking a guy at #9 that supposedly isn't a rotational player, and you have a guy like Houston with a 35 million dollar contract, and a guy like Young that doesn't like this defense, something has to give.

[mightyphoenix]

After watching him on tape and seeing his unique body type play after play he reminded me of player who was built identically.This player retired about 5 years ago,played 14 years in the league and is a borderline hall of famer.That player was Jason Taylor of the dolphins.I'm pretty sure Taylor never played a season over 245 lbs and he probably played closer to 230 his whole career.Hopefully that is the upside for Floyd.Plus I remember him and the Dolphins coming to town our super bowl year and killing us for our first loss that year.

[base615]

But he's still behind McPhee, Houston, Young, and Acho on the depth chart and that's a tough pill to swallow for the 9th overall pick in the draft. If they cut/trade Houston or Young I'll better still.

I'm trying to figure out how the Bears benefit from cutting Houston or Young. We already have $22m in cap space and no free agents to target. Teams will cut players after the draft but... are those players going to be worth big contracts? Are those players going to be impact players?

Jerffery and Long.

I don't want to see either of them cut. Young must have some trade value (plus he's still a very good option to get after the QB on pass rush downs) plus I think Houston is going to have a good year whilst also spelling McPhee so they're both fresh. But...

We definitely want Jeffery and Long long term, freeing up space this year to front load them keeps our flexibility in the future and helps us towards the goal of being a perennial play-off team.

So yeah, we don't need to and I don't want us to as I think we could go all the way this year (I don't expect us to! Super low percentage shot) or at the least get to the playoffs and get this younger roster some invaluable experience. But it wouldn't be the worst thing.

Why on earth would we need to free up cap space? Jeffrey already counts $15m in our cap, Long is signed to his 5th year option and we still have more than $26m in available cap space - one of the highest in the league.

It's not about cap space. If you are taking a guy at #9 that supposedly isn't a rotational player, and you have a guy like Houston with a 35 million dollar contract, and a guy like Young that doesn't like this defense, something has to give.

I was responding to someone saying we need to free up cap space for Long and Jeffery's contracts so it certainly was about cap space in this instance.

Addressing your separate point though, I doubt very much that we go into the season with less than 4 pass rushers. McPhee and Floyd are locks, Houston was our leading sack artist last season and was looking stronger and stronger so unlikely he moves and Young wasn't far behind and is on cheap coin. Given Pace's constant reminders that he wants to stockpile pass rushers I believe they will all stick around.

I'd have though Acho would be the odd man out on defence but they will probably keep him around as a pure ST player.

[MoFugger]

Just listened to a pretty good podcast analyzing the first round. They mentioned that one of the reasons teams were looking at Floyd as a high first pick is because he has incredible football instincts and IQ. They said that Georgia played him all over the field because they knew he had the football intelligence to match his physical ability.

So that was nice to hear.

That's pretty much why I wanted him.

[MoFugger]

Something I don't think anyone else has brought up...

The consensus seems to be that the Bears biggest defensive weakness last year was lack of sacks. I felt that a problem at least as great was the complete lack of a LB (I or O) that could defend against the pass other than by unsuccessfully attempting a sack. One of the three hallmarks of a successful 3-4 defense is linebackers that can play in coverage (and getting sacks is not one of the three).

This guy seems to be able to successfully play the pass in both ways. I always preferred the KoolAid that you add your own sugar to.

My only problem with what you said is that I did not find a way to say it first.

[G08]

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[G08]

2015 - Mizzou
[video][/video]

2014 - Clemson
[video][/video]

[mmmc_35]

I have watched the mizzu tape before. However it's different now that he is a Bear. For some reason I can only get half that tape to play.

In that half he has 2 pretty explosive rushes against the RT, one were he does an unusual (not text book) spin move and makes the RT look silly. He also beat McGovern on a stunt. He times it perfectly letting McGovern over commit to helping the RT and explodes through the gap. Throughout the half he displays good hand use. If someone taught Floyd Boxing he could have been a contender.

Several plays he gets to high but is still able to press up field. McGovern is able to neutralize him with power, but the tackles can't. He may have a little more country strength in him then we gave him credit for.

[G08]

I'm definitely watching him now with navy-and-orange colored glasses. I see explosion and I see an elite first step/get off... it's the strength that worries me.

[IE]

Maybe their sports nutrition scientifically determined they can juice him up like Clay Matthews.

[mmmc_35]

From Chris Emma on the Twitter

Leonard Floyd hopes to play at 250-260. With his athleticism, he can still be an effective edge rusher, even if undersized to the prototype.

[G08]

Von Miller @ the combine: 6025 246lbs

DeMarcus Ware @ the combine: 6040 251 lbs

Leonrd Floyd @ the comebine: 6055 244 lbs


So he's in that Von Miller weight range. Miller is listed at 6'3" 250 lbs (apparently once got up to 270 lbs after being suspended for violating the league's substance abuse policy )

DeMarcus Ware is listed at 6'4" 258 lbs.


I don't think it's outlandish to think Floyd can get up to 255 lbs... my worry will be how the dude keeps the weight on his body. All I really care about his getting his bench number up to stack/shed at the point of attack, and his squat numbers up to help give him more power in his base / allow him to incorporate a bull rush. A rigorous NFL weight training regimen and closely following the diet he will be prescribed should do the trick.

Personally, I started dead lifting about a year ago after never really bothering to work on it and I've added roughly 12 lbs to my frame.

[mmmc_35]

The best lift ever. Last year I was up over 500lbs but my body composition wasn't significantly different then it is now at 400 ish.

Looking at his body composition and knowing he played in the 230 range it is going to be tough for him. He has room on his legs, but he is so narrow. He was up to 244 at the combine, but down to 235 at his pro day.

[G08]

The best lift ever. Last year I was up over 500lbs but my body composition wasn't significantly different then it is now at 400 ish.

Looking at his body composition and knowing he played in the 230 range it is going to be tough for him. He has room on his legs, but he is so narrow. He was up to 244 at the combine, but down to 235 at his pro day.

Dude my back has transformed doing that shit, I love it. Been doing it 6-8 months now and I'm repping 315 lbs.

[mmmc_35]

Good job. Generally repping 315 is the goal of most lifters whom are not trying to lift small cars. 315 at 8 reps is a max at about 400. There are a ton of benefits of heavy leg lifts. Do you use a standard lift, sumo, or trap bar? I always have done a modified sumo. It took some of the sear and compression forces of my lower spine, whilst not being a full sumo and changing the hip movement. However after hearing from Steve Maxwell speak of trap bar dead lifts, and reading how power development is improved using the trap bar I have recently switched. Still getting use to it but I like it a lot.

[G08]

Standard lift, olympic bar. The leg placement in sumo always seemed awkward to me so I never bothered to try. I've thought about the trap bar/hex bar but I heard it didn't build muscle for you as well (is that inaccurate?). I'm always looking to switch things up once the old routine starts feeling stale.

[G08]

Also, this is probably my favorite highlight video of Leonard Floyd...

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[mmmc_35]

A few of the legit S&C coaches I have read and follow have mentioned using the trap bar for a while. I just never really tried it. Here is an article that explains some of it.

tnation trap bar

[crueltyabc]

My buddy is Dallas does sprinter training and they use it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mmmc_35]

My buddy is Dallas does sprinter training and they use it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I guys is been shown by some Georgia research to have the, most effect on sprinting speed.

[Boris13c]

I think it is more important to find out the weight Floyd is comfortable playing at rather than bulk him up ... some guys just have a natural useful weight that may not be in the range most would think of

his quickness and speed are what made him a first round pick ... if he gets heavier, he may also get slower and less effective

the good news to all of this is, NFL teams have nutrition and conditioning coaches who can have him going about this the right way to get optimum results instead of some 1950's flashback coach simply telling him "we need you heavier - go eat more"

[wab]

I think it is more important to find out the weight Floyd is comfortable playing at rather than bulk him up ... some guys just have a natural useful weight that may not be in the range most would think of

his quickness and speed are what made him a first round pick ... if he gets heavier, he may also get slower and less effective

the good news to all of this is, NFL teams have nutrition and conditioning coaches who can have him going about this the right way to get optimum results instead of some 1950's flashback coach simply telling him "we need you heavier - go eat more"

Sports science certainly is an incredible thing nowadays.

I use height/weight/speed metrics when it comes to projecting certain fits and how successful a player might be within those fits, and it worries me when I see an outlier (See: Leno Jr, Charles). In a 3-4, Floyd is certainly an outlier. There haven't been many (if any) successful 3-4 outside LB's at his size/body type. Jason Taylor is the only one I can really think of.

Hopefully he can be like Taylor and not Manny Lawson, or Barkevious Mingo, or Dion Jordan.

[UOK]

Cornwash gave Floyd his #94 jersey.

[wab]

Cornwash gave Floyd his #94 jersey.

Seems like the beginning of the end for Corn.

[G08]

Cornwash gave Floyd his #94 jersey.

Seems like the beginning of the end for Corn.

I hope not... classy move by Corny.

He looked like he's around 290 in his pictures... I was always intrigued by him as a 5T.

[wab]

Cornwash gave Floyd his #94 jersey.

Seems like the beginning of the end for Corn.

I hope not... classy move by Corny.

He looked like he's around 290 in his pictures... I was always intrigued by him as a 5T.

We already have a LB turned 5T!

[crueltyabc]

ok wab let's see your base package and sub package with Cornwash making the team and McPhee at 5T.

[wab]

ok wab let's see your base package and sub package with Cornwash making the team and McPhee at 5T.

Hmmmm.

Base would be:

Hicks / Goldman / McPhee

Floyd / Freeman / Trevathan / Houston

Porter / HJQ / Amos / Fuller

[G08]

ok wab let's see your base package and sub package with Cornwash making the team and McPhee at 5T.

Hmmmm.

Base would be:

Hicks / Goldman / McPhee

Floyd / Freeman / Trevathan / Houston

Porter / HJQ / Amos / Fuller

I don't hate it... what about sub?

[wab]

Sub is a little more fluid because the Bears rotate so much. I'd probably use this as my main package (assuming Young makes the team):

Young / Ferguson / McPhee / Bullard (Rotating Sutton in for Ferguson and Washington for Young, dropping Floyd down to DE instead of Bullard, moving Bullard into 3T)

Freeman / Trevathan (I think Jones could even have some success in this package if he makes the roster).

Porter / Amos / Callahan / Bush / Fuller (I'd strongly consider letting Floyd play the nickle safety in the big nickle package)