Leonard Floyd's $64M deal named worst contract on the Rams
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
For as many great moves as the Los Angeles Rams have made in the last four years, they’ve also handed out some questionable contracts. It’s abundantly clear that the deals they signed Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks didn’t work out, cutting ties with all of them within two years of each player putting pen to paper.
The last player they gave a big contract to was Leonard Floyd, who signed a four-year deal worth $64 million back in March. It comes with $32.5 million fully guaranteed in the form of a $14 million signing bonus and $18.5 million in guaranteed salary the next two years.
He earned that deal with a career year in 2020, but Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger isn’t convinced it was a good move by the Rams. Spielberger picked the best and worst contract for every team, and while Aaron Donald was the Rams’ best, Floyd was selected as the worst.
Floyd’s 2020 season was a textbook example of misleading sack numbers, as he actually had a lower pass-rush win percentage in 2020 (10.8%) than he did in 2018 or 2019 with the Chicago Bears (11.2% and 12%, respectively). Floyd put up 10.5 sacks in 2020 vs. seven total the prior two seasons, but odds are that number will regress back to the mean. At the end of the day, Floyd is a solid all-around player, adding value against the run and on the occasional coverage snap, but he got above average pass-rusher money, and he isn’t that.
Spielberger points out that DeSean Jackson’s $4.5 million “will also likely not look all too great when the season is done,” and that Goff’s $24.7 million in dead money this year was also in contention to be picked as the Rams’ worst – even though he’s not even on the team.
Floyd is unquestionably the team’s top edge rusher and the Rams need him to play the way he did last year to justify this contract. In 2020, he had 10.5 sacks and 19 QB hits, both of which were career-highs.
If he regresses back to the way he played with the Bears, this contract will not age well.
