Tag: Leonard Floyd

Former Georgia Bulldog Leonard Floyd signs with the 49ers

Leonard Floyd is headed back to the West Coast after signing with San Francisco. Details here…

Former Georgia Bulldog Leonard Floyd is headed to back to the West Coast after signing with the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. His new two-year deal is worth $20 million, per NFL Network.

“San Fran!!!!! Im giving you my best yet,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Floyd, 31, spent last season with the Buffalo Bills after three seasons with the L.A. Rams, including a win in Super Bowl LVI. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the No. 9 overall pick in 2016 and spent four seasons in Chicago before his move to the Rams.

Floyd is coming off one of his best NFL seasons, tying a career-best with 10.5 sacks. He started 16 regular season games and served as one of the leaders of the defensive line group in Buffalo.

Floyd played four years at Georgia from 2012-2015. He is currently the Bulldogs’ eighth all-time sack leader (22.5). The Eastman, Ga., native earned second-team All-SEC honors as a senior in 2015.

Floyd will join former Bulldogs Chris Conley and Robert Beal Jr.  in San Francisco. Former Georgia tight end Charlie Woerner, who spent the last three seasons with the 49ers, signed with the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.

49ers can’t be done adding edge depth after agreeing to deals with 2 DEs

The 49ers did a nice job adding at DE on Monday, but they can’t stop now.

The 49ers on Monday showed what their top priority was in free agency when they quickly scooped up two affordable defensive ends in the first day of the NFL’s legal negotiating window. Deals agreed upon during that window won’t become official until the league year begins Wednesday at 1:00pm Pacific Time.

San Francisco added veteran DEs Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos on relatively affordable two-year deals. While the big-time splash along the defensive line isn’t likely coming, they can’t be done adding depth on the edges.

Adding defensive end help was maybe the second-biggest offseason need for the 49ers. Having a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate at one end is nice, but San Francisco has placed a major emphasis on its defensive front. They needed additional help for Bosa with Drake Jackson and Robert Beal Jr. as the only other DEs slated to potentially play major roles in 2024.

Floyd and Gross-Matos will help in that realm. The former was a full-time starter for the Bills last season, but he played just 54 percent of Buffalo’s defensive snaps. Meanwhile, Gross-Matos missed five games and started only half of the 12 games he played. That’s not to say he can’t develop into a full-time starter, which he was for the Panthers in 2022, but his production as a pass rusher has always left something to be desired if he’s going to be on the field for a majority of the team’s snaps.

Ideally the 49ers would utilize Gross-Matos as a versatile pass rusher in the same vein as Charles Omenihu during his couple of seasons in San Francisco. Floyd may start, but he’s probably limited to being more of a pass-rush specialist instead of an every-down player.

Both players should be very valuable for a 49ers defensive line that struggled with consistency and overall production last year. However, given the rotational role both players figure to occupy, more depth will be a necessity for the 49ers.

Perhaps they view Jackson and Beal as those depth pieces. Jackson has flashed a handful of times in 23 games as a pro, but he’s still an unproven commodity despite his big-time upside. Beal was a rookie last season and saw action in only four games, although he did record a sack in Week 18 when he played a career-high 24 defensive snaps.

Neither player has done enough as a pro to inspire the kind of confidence the 49ers will want in their edge depth. They’ll get opportunities, but San Francisco would be wise to either find another inexpensive free agent, or use an early draft pick at DE.

Either way the 49ers have done a nice job filling out their barren DE depth chart so far. They just have to ensure they’re not satisfied just yet or else they run the risk of falling short at one of the most important positions on their roster for the second consecutive year.

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Bills lose Leonard Floyd, expected to sign with 49ers

Leonard Floyd leaves the #Bills:

Leonard Floyd will be one-and-done with the Buffalo Bills.

Floyd, 31, who was a pending free agent will not re-sign with the Bills. Instead, he has departed to the San Francisco 49ers, who are expected to sign him to a two-year deal which is reportedly worth up to $20 million.

Floyd originally signed in Buffalo last offseason, but not at this time. He waited until June.

Floyd joined the Bills and was thought to be a bridge until Von Miller returned from his 2022 knee injury.

Instead, Miller failed to record a single sack for Buffalo last season, meanwhile, Floyd led the team with 10.5. He added 32 tackles while playing 577 defensive snaps.

The 49ers will be Floyd’s fourth team – he was drafted by the Chicago Bears, and then signed with the Los Angeles Rams and Bills in free agency previously. Pass rusher was a need for San Francisco with Chase Young and Randy Gregory free agents.

Bills Wire will continue to bring roster updates throughout the 2024 offseason.

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49ers to add DE Leonard Floyd on 2-year contract

The #49ers made their first big free agency move and added some edge help.

The 49ers are getting some edge help with their first big free agency move. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport on Monday reported San Francisco is signing veteran defensive end Leonard Floyd to a two-year deal. Rapoport reported the contract is worth up to $24 million with $12 million guaranteed in 2024.

Floyd has been in the NFL for eight seasons and turns 32 at the start of the 2024 campaign.

In 121 games (120 starts) he has 58 sacks and 63 tackles for loss. Last season with Buffalo Floyd tied his career-high with 10.5 sacks. In the last four seasons he hasn’t posted fewer than 9.0 sacks.

He now enters a 49ers DE room that desperately needs help. Nick Bosa is the only major contributor returning with Drake Jackson coming off of injury and Robert Beal Jr. entering his second season after making sparse contributions as a rookie in 2023.

The Floyd addition shouldn’t mean the 49ers are done at DE, and they’ll probably want to add another starting-caliber player there. Last year for the Bills he played a career-low 54 percent of the defensive snaps.

With Arik Armstead set to exit in free agency though, the 49ers need as much pass rush help as they can get, and Floyd has a long track record of providing it.

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Pair of Georgia Bulldogs ranked among the best NFL free agents

Two Georgia Bulldogs are expected to be among the best players available when NFL free agency begins on March 11

Former Georgia Bulldogs outside linebacker Leonard Floyd ranks as the No. 70 NFL free agent available. Floyd, who spent this past season with the Buffalo Bills, is primarily a pass rush specialist. He is productive and is a good player to have when trying to hunt down mobile quarterbacks.

“It was mystifying that it took most of last offseason for Floyd to land a job, and then he finished the 2023 campaign with 10.5 sacks as a rotational player. Same as he ever was,” said NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal.

Former Philadelphia Eagles running back D’Andre Swift, a former Georgia standout, is considered the No. 72 NFL free agent on the market. Swift accumulated 1,049 rushing yards and five touchdowns last season. This is a deep free agent class at the running back position, but Swift can still be a major contributor for any NFL team.

“Swift showed with the Eagles in 2023 to be a tougher power runner with more durability than he ever was in Detroit,” said Rosenthal.

Swift and Floyd are among the 13 Georgia Bulldogs that are scheduled to become free agents. NFL free agency starts on March 11. Players can begin officially signing with NFL teams on March 13.

Projecting market value for Bills pending free agents

Projecting market value for #Bills pending free agents:

The Buffalo Bills have several important players who are on the cusp of leaving via free agency. General manager Brandon Beane has some difficult decisions to make, as he needs to balance a challenging salary cap situation. At this time, Spotrac highlights the Bills are still $41 million over the cap.

The Bills still have some time to ink these players to extensions. However, several of these players are on the verge of a big payday.

The legal tampering period begins on March 11. Once this date hits, it’s a good chance that these players will be finding new homes for the 2024 season.

Here is a look at the projected market value for the Bills top pending free agents based off Spotrac’s projections:

Giants named a potential landing spot for multiple edge rushers

The New York Giants, in need of an improved pass rush, have been named a potential landing spot for several free agent edge rushers.

With needs up and down their roster, the New York Giants and general manager Joe Schoen will enter free agency prepared to address multiple positions.

One of those is along the edge where the Giants are desperately lacking outside of Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Although the pass rush need has flown a bit under the radar, the Giants were named as a potential landing spot for multiple edge rushers courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Although it may not be the Giants’ biggest or most glaring need this offseason, it may be one of the most important positions for them to address. With blitz-heavy defensive coordinator Wink Martindale no longer with the team, it will be even more important for the Giants’ defense to generate pressure more organically.

Here is a look at the edge rushers PFF has identified the Giants as a potential landing spot.

6 players the Bills should let walk in free agency this offseason

6 players the #Bills should let walk in free agency this offseason:

The Buffalo Bills will not re-sign all of their pending free agents this offseason.

It’s true, and for a variety of reasons. The team could want to upgrade. In other cases, whether it might be because of the money or roster size, it doesn’t make much sense for the Bills to keep certain faces around anymore.

Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane and his front office team will be in charge of making those decisions, but we have some ideas for him.

Here are six free agents the Bills should let walk this offseason:

PFF: Leonard Floyd named Bills’ top pending free agent

Should the #Bills re-sign?

With the NFL offseason now in full force, the Buffalo Bills and rest of the league will soon turn their attention to free agency in March.

When the market opens, teams are usually in one of either two places: Trying to re-sign their own or looking to splash some cash on the market. Because of a tough salary cap situation, Buffalo is in the prior.

The Bills are currently over the 2024 cap by a large $40 million margin and will have to restructure some contracts in order to keep a competitive roster. If Buffalo does that and can manage to do so, Pro Football Focus thinks keeping around pass rusher Leonard Floyd would be a smart idea.

The football analytics outlet named Floyd as the Bills’ top pending free agent. Overall, Floyd is tabbed as the 49th best free agent in all of football.

Floyd signed a one-year deal last offseason in Buffalo. It was a “prove it” type deal and because of that, the 30-year-old will likely try to cash in. It seems unlikely that the Bills will retain Floyd unless he accepted a team-friendly contract, which he already said he’s not going to do.

Here’s PFF’s breakdown on Floyd as free agency approaches:

Floyd was let go by the Los Angeles Rams as they dropped from the most expensive NFL team in 2022 to the cheapest in 2023. Still, he made a handful of splash plays this regular season, with several coming in key moments. Floyd earned 65.0-plus pass-rush grades in three straight seasons prior to 2023, and his 38.5 sacks since then have flown under the radar as a top-10 mark among edge defenders. Floyd is long and rangy, with good burst but only adequate bend around the edge. He tends to impact more plays than the box score indicates, thanks to his good instincts to get his hands up to deflect passes or disrupt throwing windows.

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Ranking 2024’s top 12 free-agent pass rushers

There’s a pretty familiar name in this group.

Whether the Carolina Panthers tag or extend Brian Burns, we’re not going to see the two-time Pro Bowler even swim in the waters of free agency. But until then, he’s one of the 12 best edge defenders whose contracts are officially up.

Here’s Burns and his 11 pass-rushing pals: