While the Chicago Bears didn’t make any big waves during this offseason, they made some moves that made the roster better heading into a pivotal 2020 season, including on the defensive side of the ball.
The Bears defense certainly wasn’t the major concern this offseason, but the pass rush had its share of struggles in 2019. Outside linebacker Khalil Mack had a down year statistically, and outside linebacker Leonard Floyd had a career-low three sacks. With Floyd due to make $13 million with his fifth-year option, general manager Ryan Pace released the former first-round pick in March.
Pace upgraded the pass rush with the free-agent acquisition of Robert Quinn, who had 11.5 sacks with the Dallas Cowboys last season. And that was without one of the game’s best pass rushers in Mack on the other side.
ESPN’s Mike Clay dubbed Quinn one of the best positional upgrades of this offseason, noting what he accomplished on an underwhelming Cowboys defense last season.
Quinn turns 30 this summer, but the veteran edge rusher is one of the league’s most underrated players. In his only season with Dallas, Quinn racked up 11.5 sacks (eighth among edge rushers), 72 pass-rush wins (third) and a 21.5% pass-rush win rate (first) in 2019. He has reached 8.5 sacks all five seasons in which he played at least 600 snaps.
In Chicago, Quinn replaces Floyd opposite superstar Khalil Mack. Floyd impressed with 7.0 sacks as a rookie in 2016, but his totals have progressively dipped from 4.5 in 2017 to 4.0 in 2018 to 3.0 last season. He ranked ninth among edge rushers in snaps last season but struggled to only 27 pass-rush wins (51st) and a 0.8% sack rate (19th worst). Floyd is now with the Rams.
While the Bears were content with what Floyd provided on defense in terms of his ability in coverage and run defense, ultimately pass rushers are judged on their ability to get after the quarterback. And Floyd hasn’t been able to consistently do that. Since entering the league in 2016, Floyd’s sack total declined every season — including the last two years with Mack drawing double and triple teams.
Meanwhile, Quinn proved that he can get after the quarterback, and Chicago is banking on Mack and Quinn providing a 1-2 punch off the edge to generate the kind of pressure that overwhelmed some offenses back in 2018.
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