The Chicago Bears remain a viable landing spot for a handful of veteran edge-rushers until they add to a group that was among the least effective in the NFL last season, including a potential reunion with the team’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft.
Leonard Floyd was an older prospect than most coming out of Georgia when the Bears made him the No. 9 overall selection a few months shy of his 24th birthday. The risk with such players is that much of their development has already taken place, and the upside can be limited in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of prospect.
Floyd tallied seven sacks for the team during his rookie campaign but didn’t break out until his fifth professional season, and first outside of Chicago, when he posted 11 tackles for loss (TFL) and 10.5 sacks for the Los Angeles Rams in 2020.
He tallied another 9.5 sacks the following year, as L.A. won the Super Bowl, before adding nine sacks in 2022 during his last campaign in Southern California.
Floyd transitioned into the role of mercenary pass-rusher, a familiar career arc for veterans of the position group once they hit their 30s. He matched his career high with 10.5 sacks for the Buffalo Bills in 2023 and put up 8.5 sacks for the San Francisco 49ers the following campaign before his production fell off to just 3.5 sacks with the Atlanta Falcons last season.
Now, a decade after the Bears made him a top-10 pick, Floyd is coming off a $10 million contract in the NFC South Division and remains a free agent a few months shy of his 34th birthday. Floyd needs a home and the Bears need another pass-rusher, so if the price is right, the two sides could prove a solid one-year match.
Bears Should Be Able to Pursue Leonard Floyd at Affordable Price
GettyFormer Chicago Bears defensive end Leonard Floyd.
Spotrac projects Floyd’s market value at $8.9 million, though that figure reads high for multiple reasons.
First, it is inconsistent with the same website’s projections for players like Jadeveon Clowney, who is also a veteran free agent pass-rusher who has been in mercenary mode for the past several seasons.
Clowney put up 12 TFL and 8.5 sacks for the Dallas Cowboys in 2026 and has a market value projection of $5.7 million. Floyd, who has 70 career sacks to his name, is one year older and produced at a meaningfully lower rate than Clowney last season.
There is also the general market to consider. The longer Floyd remains unemployed, the less free agency is likely to bear for his services, and it’s already May.
Chicago Could Look for Pass-Rusher Like Marcus Davenport on Near League Minimum Deal
GettyDefensive end Marcus Davenport.
Chicago doesn’t have a lot of money to spend, with currently less than $10.8 million in salary cap space for the upcoming season. That said, the pass rush is probably the team’s biggest remaining need after ignoring it during last month’s draft.
The Bears could look to go incredibly inexpensive and take a flier on a player like Marcus Davenport, most recently of the Detroit Lions, or former Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Preston Smith. Both are potentially available for less than a $2 million salary in 2026.
However, Davenport has struggled mightily with injuries over the last several years, while Smith’s precipitous decline with the Washington Commanders last season (0.5 sacks across 13 games) has raised questions about his viability as an NFL player moving forward.
Bears Candidates for Reunion With Top-10 Pick, 70-Sack Pass-Rusher