The San Francisco 49ers made a big move in free agency this offseason to add a productive complement to Nick Bosa at the edge spot across from the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year.
San Francisco's signing of Leonard Floyd to a two-year, $20 million contract marked the Niners' marquee move on the open market.
In landing Floyd, the 49ers acquired a pass rusher with an extremely strong recent track record of production, the former first-round pick of the Chicago Bears having racked up 39.5 sacks over the last four seasons.
San Francisco has tried several different players at the defensive end position across from Bosa in recent years. However, in reality, they haven't had a productive player on the opposite flank to Bosa since Dee Ford was helping the 49ers reach Super Bowl LIV in the 2019 season. Ford had 6.5 sacks across his first 10 games with the Niners following a trade from the Kansas City Chiefs before injury saw him miss five of the last six regular-season games. He returned for the postseason and added another sack.
Further injuries prevented Ford from ever realizing his potential as Bosa's running mate and the 49ers parted with him after the 2021 season.
An extremely explosive edge rusher who possesses the ability to bend and has shown he can succeed from two and three-point stances, Floyd's skill set is similar to that of Ford.
And defensive line coach Kris Kocurek confirmed he will be used in much the same way to a player who represents one of the biggest 'what-ifs' of the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch era.
Asked by Matt Barrows of The Athletic what Floyd brings to the pass rush group, Kocurek replied:
"We met with him at Georgia the night before his pro day [in 2016, when Kocurek was with the Detroit Lions], spent some time with him then, spent some time with him after his pro day.
"I really liked him coming out of college that particular year. I thought he was the most explosive rusher in the draft. As I’ve said in the past, anybody that’s caught my eye — that I really thought had the talent to play in our scheme — I keep up with them in the NFL. And things always circled back around. And it’s circled back around with him. I’ve always kept an eye on him and just really liked the way he played the game — the love, the passion and the talent behind it.
"Last year in Buffalo, he played 50-50 between a two-point and a three-point stance. In L.A. (with the Rams), it was more of a two-point deal. Early in his career in Chicago, he was more of a two-point player. We’ll do a little bit of both with him.
"When we had Dee Ford here, he was primarily a two-point dude, and once he got here, there were certain situations we wanted him with his hand in the ground, and there’ll be certain situations we want Leonard with his hand in the ground. Sometimes, we’ll stand him up like you saw Dee Ford in ’19 and ’20, standing up on the edge.
"Anytime a player is really good at something, I’d be an idiot to take it away from him and say, “You can’t do that.” We’re always known as a hand-in-the-dirt defense, but when you have a unique skill set that can excel from a two-point stance, you don’t want to just totally take that away from a player."
Versatility is something the 49ers value highly on both sides of the ball. As such, there was never likely to be a question of them taking the two-point stance out of Floyd's game.
Because of Ford's injuries, they never got the chance to see the damage their defensive front could do with a player with his skill set healthy for the entire season and playing across from Bosa. Floyd gives them the chance to find out, and his history over the last four seasons indicates the Niners will like the results.
