Former Los Angeles Rams LB Leonard Floyd has come to terms with the Buffalo Bills on a 1 year deal.
Floyd rejoins his former Rams teammate Von Miller in Buffalo, as the team opted to rebuild their pass rush with veterans as opposed to addressing it in the recent NFL Draft. Rather than taking a stab at a prospect, the Bills front office re-signed DT Ed Oliver, brought in DT Poona Ford on a 1 year deal, and have now reunited the former Super Bowl winning duo of Floyd and Miller.
Los Angeles had been hoping to find a trade partner for the 30 year old. However, after failing to find a deal to their liking, opted to release the veteran LB in March. After a career year in 2021, Floyd took a small step backwards in 2022, registering 9 sacks, and 59 total tackles with LA.
With Los Angeles facing the financial repercussions of their “all-in” Super Bowl victory in 2022, Floyd joins a growing list of players whom the club has had to shed for salary cap purposes.
Despite signing a 4 year $64M contract in March of 2021, Los Angeles was forced to part ways with the Atlanta native. While the move will save the team money down the line, Floyd’s contract will act as a $19M dead cap hit for the Rams in 2023.
The former 9th overall pick from 2016 certainly won’t be alone in upstate New York. In addition to Miller, former Rams teammates Taylor Rapp and David Edwards are also now members of the Bills as well.
Floyd’s ability to get after the quarterback will be a welcome addition to the Buffalo pass rush this season. Despite allowing the 2nd fewest points per game in 2022 (17.9), the Bills only registered 40 sacks on the year, putting them 17th in the league in that regard.
With Miller coming off an ACL injury, Floyd presents not only a solid rotational piece for Buffalo, but also acts as an insurance policy for the former Super Bowl MVP.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.