Leonard Floyd, OLB

I had to give this guy his own thread. He rarely gets mentioned, but IMO, he's the best pass rusher in this draft. If Trent throws a curveball at #7 I could see Floyd being the pick. He surprised us a little with Aldon and this would be a similar move.

If you really want to see Floyd as a pass rusher you'll have to go back to 2014. He was dynamic
off the edge and was a budding star. Last season he was used primarily as an ILB and didn't get to showcase his talent as an edge rusher. He's a better overall LB than any of the tweeners in this draft. Plus, he has a unique ability and get low and bend around OTs.

The knock on him is that he's thin. At 6"6' 244lbs he has a frame to add 10lbs comfortably without losing his quickness. He has long arms, 33 1/8 and big hands, 10 1/8. His SPARQ scores puts him in the 91 percentile for edge rushers.

NFL comparisons:
- NFL.com - Eli Harold
- Mayock - Jason Taylor
- Walter Football - Better version of Anthony Barr

We already have him. His name is Eli Harold.

Originally posted by Alfienator:

We already have him. His name is Eli Harold.

Not the same player at all. NFL.com has terrible comparisons. They compared Harold to Olivier Vernon.

The Eli thing is just that they share the same weakness in their strength. Floyd is a much better athlete.

If we trade back, Floyd or Spence could be the pick. If we're going with the character-guy, the choice is easy.

Yeah, this guys a beast and wasn't used properly at UGA. I hope it's either him or Buckner, if Goff or Wentz aren't there. Even if they are there I would be tempted to take one of the defensive guys.

Originally posted by Niner_lobo:

Yeah, this guys a beast and wasn't used properly at UGA. I hope it's either him or Buckner, if Goff or Wentz aren't there. Even if they are there I would be tempted to take one of the defensive guys.

The big fear is that he'll be Mingo 2.0 and I can see why, but I think he's a much better prospect coming out. He can transfer seed to power, though it needs work. His 6"6' frame makes me think he'll add strength just fine. We saw Eli improve with it as the year went on.

If UGA let him play Edge, I think he'd be widely regarded as a potential top-10 pick.

Originally posted by strickac:
The big fear is that he'll be Mingo 2.0 and I can see why, but I think he's a much better prospect coming out. He can transfer seed to power, though it needs work. His 6"6' frame makes me think he'll add strength just fine. We saw Eli improve with it as the year went on.

If UGA let him play Edge, I think he'd be widely regarded as a potential top-10 pick.

Mingo is actually a pretty solid player

Originally posted by strickac:
The big fear is that he'll be Mingo 2.0 and I can see why, but I think he's a much better prospect coming out. He can transfer seed to power, though it needs work. His 6"6' frame makes me think he'll add strength just fine. We saw Eli improve with it as the year went on.

If UGA let him play Edge, I think he'd be widely regarded as a potential top-10 pick.

If this is indeed the pick, I think we trade down in the 12-15 range to pick him up. You can never have too many edge rushers.

Your dead on. Leonard Floyd has Baalke written all over him, and he's flying under the radar of niner fans. Floyd is that prototypical tall, long and ridiculously athletic type player that Baalke covets at OLB.


I think if he was about 15 lbs heavier, you could pencil his name in at 7.

Yeah I totally agree with you...this dude would be the total out of left field pick that nobody would be expecting (media & fans) but that teams covet behind the scenes.

I've seen him mocked as high as the teens.

Comparison I've herd is Jaime Collins from the Patriots. Freak you could move around like a chess piece inside and outside.

I love it!!! Trade up to number two and get him

Originally posted by strickac:

Originally posted by Alfienator:

We already have him. His name is Eli Harold.

Not the same player at all. NFL.com has terrible comparisons. They compared Harold to Olivier Vernon.

The Eli thing is just that they share the same weakness in their strength. Floyd is a much better athlete.

If we trade back, Floyd or Spence could be the pick. If we're going with the character-guy, the choice is easy.

Agree about the trade back option. Or, if we trade Kap before the draft, we may be able to use that and our 2nd to jump back in the 1st around 22-24 to grab him before the Steelers, Seahawks, Packers and Cardinals pick

Random fact about this guy: he'll be 24 years old around the time the season starts.

Originally posted by NinerSickness:

Random fact about this guy: he'll be 24 years old around the time the season starts.

Personally I think age is one of he most worthless factors in drafting. If the guy becomes the player you hope he can, you'll still only get 5 years out of them, with a chance of extending them for a few more. Typical best case is around 8 years before they retire or chase money in FA.

If you buy that logic, Floyd would be in his early
30s even after an extension.

Wasn't Brandon Weeden 28 when he was drafted? I wouldn't have touched him with a 1st round pick.

Originally posted by strickac:

Personally I think age is one of he most worthless factors in drafting. If the guy becomes the player you hope he can, you'll still only get 5 years out of them, with a chance of extending them for a few more. Typical best case is around 8 years before they retire or chase money in FA.

If you buy that logic, Floyd would be in his early
30s even after an extension.

Wasn't Brandon Weeden 28 when he was drafted? I wouldn't have touched him with a 1st round pick.

I take strength into consideration when talking about age if you're 24 and your weakness is strength there's not much room to develop that. Now you take a young athlete like Andrew Billings who's 20 he hasn't reached his prime yet and can get stronger

Originally posted by Since07:

Originally posted by strickac:

Personally I think age is one of he most worthless factors in drafting. If the guy becomes the player you hope he can, you'll still only get 5 years out of them, with a chance of extending them for a few more. Typical best case is around 8 years before they retire or chase money in FA.

If you buy that logic, Floyd would be in his early
30s even after an extension.

Wasn't Brandon Weeden 28 when he was drafted? I wouldn't have touched him with a 1st round pick.

I take strength into consideration when talking about age if you're 24 and your weakness is strength there's not much room to develop that. Now you take a young athlete like Andrew Billings who's 20 he hasn't reached his prime yet and can get stronger

That's a fair point that I hadn't considered. That said, it's easier to add more mescle in your late 20s than early 20s, due to decreasing metabolism.