The destination was worth the wait for Leonard Floyd.
The veteran edge rusher is signing a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Monday, per sources. The deal is worth up to $9 million with basic sack incentives ($7 million base value), according to Rapoport.
Buffalo officially announced the contract on Tuesday.
The news officially closes the book on Floyd's productive tenure in Los Angeles, where he discovered the form that eluded him in his first NFL stop with the Chicago Bears. Floyd recorded nine or more sacks in each of his three campaigns with the Rams, tallying 29 of his 47.5 career sacks from 2020-2022.
The move also reunites Floyd with a former running mate and fellow Super Bowl LVI champion, Von Miller, who left the Rams for the Bills after winning a title in the 2021 season. When Floyd and Miller last shared the field together, they combined to tally six sacks in playoff contests as part of their run to the Lombardi Trophy, harassing Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the final moments of Super Bowl LVI to preserve the Rams' lead and secure the win.
Interestingly enough, Miller and Floyd been recruited to Buffalo to do the same thing.
Buffalo's 2022 season ended in what many Bills fans will claim was premature fashion. A snowy evening in Orchard Park, New York, should have spelled trouble for the Bills' Divisional Round opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, who entered the game with a banged-up offensive line.
Instead of wreaking havoc on Cincinnati's passing game, Buffalo's pass rush fell woefully short, pressuring Burrow on just eight of 37 dropbacks for a grand total of one sack. Burrow finished with a 23-of-36, 242-yard, two-touchdown passing line that produced a 101.9 passer rating and sent the Bills to an early vacation.
Miller was unable to play in that game due to a season-ending knee injury. After being burned once by an untimely injury, the Bills aren't going to stand by idly and leave themselves vulnerable to a similar outcome.
Floyd is an ideal addition considering the fact he hasn't missed a regular-season game since 2017 and is a proven producer in the right scheme. At the very least, Floyd brings more experienced depth to an edge-rushing group littered with younger talent.
