We’ll be breaking down all the major and minor moves for NFL Free Agency with grades and analysis. You can find the comprehensive list of moves and grades here.
Reported deal: Four years/$64 million
Leonard Floyd was a one-year/$10 million replacement for Dante Fowler, who turned his two years with the Rams into a multi-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency. Floyd outperformed Fowler in both his 2019 with the Rams and his 2020 with the Falcons.
But Floyd’s pressure rate was only slightly above average, ranked 49th of 124 DE/LBs with at least 150 pass rushes. Floyd ranked 19th in quarterback hits, but converted an impressive 55% of those into 10.5 sacks. That’s a conversion rate that is likely to regress, so Floyd would have to get to the quarterback more often to match those sack numbers.
Floyd is an athletic pass rusher, who found his way with the Rams on a talented defensive line, which helps when Aaron Donald is involved. Thanks to the other players on the line, Floyd was double-teamed at one of the lowest rates for edge rushers but he was also well below average in Pass Rush Win Rate, according to ESPN.
source: @SethWalder
At $16 million per year, Floyd is among the top-tier of edge rushers just below $16.5 million averages for Chandler Jones and Z’Darious Smith. He also got significantly more than Matt Judon got with the Patriots and Yannick Ngakoue got from the Raiders.
Given the Rams’ cap constraints — Over The Cap currently has them still nearly $38 million over the cap heading into Wednesday’s start of the new league year — it could have made financial sense for the Rams to find another Floyd in free agency instead of paying a massive premium to retain a player helped more by his circumstances than one who elevates them.
Grade: D+
