By Kyle Koster, Stat St
Julius Peppers and Jared Allen both moved into the Hall of Fame after the 2005 season, so this team is familiar with filling it’s big money spots with savvy vets. Sure enough, the Chicago Bears took LSU product Leonard Floyd with the third pick of the 2015 NFL Draft and the defensive end has played a big role in Chicago’s resurgence.
Losing Mitch Trubisky for almost all of their playoff success last season was a blow to the future of the franchise, but we shouldn’t forget that Floyd got many of his snaps after Trubisky went down. That lost time off can’t be easy for Floyd.
He should be able to re-establish his presence in the offense in this season despite the presence of Mitch Trubisky. pic.twitter.com/R8JGBIbgUM — Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) June 24, 2019
In a statement released through the team, Floyd’s coach in college indicated the player will return and start this season. This should come as no surprise to anyone who watched last season.
“Anytime a team calls and asks me to go out there, the answer is always the same: I’m game ready. Leonard is game ready to get back out there and play for his teammates.”
It remains to be seen how Floyd will play on passing downs, but given the bye this week will be a good week to re-ace the knee that required four operations as a rookie. He’s only 22 years old, so he’s got a few years left of brilliance ahead of him.
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