How Bears GM Ryan Pace Did at Replacing Leonard Floyd
It's easy to look at Leonard Floyd starting for the Rams, see Robert Quinn's one sack this season and deduce Bears general manager Ryan Pace made another mistake.
Pace wouldn't pay Floyd $13 million this year, let him go, brought in Quinn on a $70 million deal over five years that counts $6.1 million for this year's cap, and thought the pass rush would take off.
However, while Quinn has struggled individually without doubt, the Bears have actually accomplished what they wanted in terms of the overall rush.
The Bears pass rush has been accomplished through a group effort as Quinn has battled through an early injury while trying to fit into an unfamiliar defensive scheme.
Quinn has only three tackles, a sack, forced fumble and recovery, and a quarterback hit. He has four pressures on 38% of defensive snaps.
Against Carolina, Quinn played 44% of the snaps. Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said he views this as the way they want to play Quinn.
The Bears pass rush goes beyond Quinn, though. Pace has brought in other players capable of rushing off the edge or even from inside, and combined they have supplied more pass rush pressure than the Bears had from Floyd last season or in most of his other years.
Between Barkevious Mingo and James Vaughters, they have as many sacks (3) as Floyd had all last season with the Bears as a starter who played 84% of the snaps.
All of the outside linebackers on this Bears team aside from Mack have one less sack (4) than all of the other outside linebackers on last year's team for a full season.
The goal was to get enough ability on the edge to make it so there was help for Khalil Mack. And the other goal is elminating double teams.
"We gotta do a better job of trying to scheme up some things to where if we're fortunate enough to get him some singles, which is very, very limited when that happens, but that's our goal, to try to get that done," Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said.
Floyd hasn't been entirely more productive for the Rams this year than last year for the Bears. With 92% of the snaps played, he has two sacks, four hurries and 17 tackles, including four for loss.
To complement the Bears rush, Pace also brought in former Saints defensive end Mario Edwards and this is working out as well.
"I had a few setbacks and a few injuries but I think now I'm finally getting in my groove and of course to be able to be versatile to play inside and do multple things is why I think I'm still playing at a pretty good level," Edwards said.
Edwards usually comes out of a defensive tackle rush position with the Bears. He has a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits.
"He's a rough rider," Pagano said. "This guy is a, he's a hard charger. He's athletic. He's twitchy. He's not the biggest guy, obviously, in the room, but he will go in there and he will do the dirty work for you. He will fight and he will scrap.
"But then when it comes to third down, he's been really productive, affecting the quarterback. He gives you really, really meaningful snaps in there. Again, he's got the right mindset. He's definitely a Monster of the Midway type guy, so we're lucky to have him."
Outside Linebacker Help for Khalil Mack
2020
6 games
Robert Quinn 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
James Vaughters 1 1/2 sacks, 2 QB hits, 2 TFL
Barkevious Mingo 1 1/2 sacks 3 QB hits, 1 TFL
2019
16 games
Leonard Floyd 3 sacks, 12 QB hits, 3 TFL
Aaron Lynch 2 sacks, 9 QB hits, 3 TFL
Isaiah Irving 0 sacks, 1 QB hit
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