Leonard Floyd NFL Draft 2016: Scouting Report, Grade for Bears Rookie

POSITIVES

A fantastic athlete with the triangle numbers (height/weight/40 time) to wow scouts, Leonard Floyd is generating talk as a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft.

Floyd is a long athlete with a huge playmaking radius. He's a natural athlete who moves effortlessly through space with easy change-of-direction skills. Floyd is explosive and ultra flexible off the edge, showing the first-step speed to beat offensive tackles around the corner. Floyd has the hips to make 90-degree turns and then explode at full speed on the edge.

A versatile position player, Floyd is comfortable standing up in space. He's been used dropping into coverage and shows the feet to make plays in the flats. Floyd is also an athlete against the run with quick scraping skills and the tools to run laterally and make plays on the sideline.

He is a heady player with excellent awareness and instincts. Floyd locates the ball and closes quickly in all three levels of play.

NEGATIVES

Floyd's profile is more about what he can be than what he was at Georgia. He never had more than 6.5 sacks in any season—and he achieved that total his freshman year.

Limited strength will need addressed in Floyd's rookie season. He lacks the sand in his lower body to hold up on rushing downs and may be limited to situational rushing duties at first. Because he's a long player, Floyd doesn't have coiled-up strength when popping linemen back.

If Floyd can get off blocks, he'll make plays in the NFL, but that's a gigantic concern if teams view him as a 4-3 defensive end. He's more natural moving in space as a 3-4 outside linebacker but cannot avoid playing close to the tackle as a pro pass-rusher and must add strength and power technique.

COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 244 lbs.

40 Time: 4.60s

3-Cone: 7.18s

Short Shuttle: 4.32s

PRO COMPARISON: Manny Lawson, Buffalo Bills
FINAL GRADE: 6.99/9.00 (Round 2—Future Starter)