Leonard Floyd is a perfect Robin to Khalil Mack's Batman

Leonard Floyd was drafted to be the next alpha pass rusher for the Chicago Bears. That guy teams had to game plan for every week.

At times it looks like things were headed that way, but for one reason or another Floyd just hasn’t been able to throw it into that 5th gear. He’d have a dominant stretch and then either disappear or more often get injured. It’s led some to think that he might just not have that aura about him that makes up being the superhero when his team needs him the most.

On the other hand, he may have the perfect makeup of a sidekick. What does that mean? It means when the hero is doing his thing and drawing all the attention, he’ll swoop in and pile up the numbers. That may be a bit over-the-top in terms of explanation. So here’s a football way to do so. Floyd has had a number of dominant games during his first two seasons.

2016 vs. Packers: 2 sacks
2016 vs. 49ers: 2 sacks
2017 vs. Vikings: 2 sacks
2017 vs. Panthers: 1 sack (7 total pressures)
2017 vs. Packers: 1 sack (5 total pressures)

What people might not remember about those great games is they all came courtesy of somebody else demanding attention from the offensive line.

2016 vs. Packers: Willie Young had 7 pressures
2016 vs. 49ers: Akiem Hicks had 3 sacks
2017 vs. Vikings: Akiem Hicks had 2 sacks
2017 vs. Panthers: Pernell McPhee had a sack (2 hits)
2017 vs. Packers: Sam Acho had a sack

Floyd’s best performances have always coincided with somebody else on the front having a big day. He’s never shown that ability to take over a game by himself. However, he is that perfect guy who can gobble up sacks on quarterbacks trying to run away from somebody else. This is where the acquisition of Khalil Mack can be so huge.

Leonard Floyd could pile up sacks courtesy of Mack’s presence

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Mack is heralded as one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, and for good reason. He’s 27-years old and has at least 10.5 sacks in each of the past three seasons. It goes even deeper than that too. According to Pro Football Focus, Mack has 259 total pressures (sacks, hits, hurries) on the quarterback since the start of 2015. That’s a span of 49 games which averages out to 5.28 pressures every single game. Ready for the fun part?

Floyd has played in six games during his career thus far where a teammate had five or more pressures on the quarterback. In those games, the young outside linebacker has compiled six sacks. In fact, there was only one game of those six that he failed to notch a sack.

This is what was meant when saying that Floyd is the perfect sidekick. He’s not the guy that will take over games by himself. However, if you get somebody on the front who can demand that sort of attention, he has enough ability to where he’ll become that itch an offense won’t be able to scratch. It will be interesting to see how he and Mack fair together Sunday night in Green Bay, but it will only get better as Floyd gets healthy and Mack learns the system.

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Leonard Floyd is a perfect Robin to Khalil Mack’s Batman

By Erik Lambert | Sep 8, 2018

Leonard Floyd was drafted to be the next alpha pass rusher for the Chicago Bears. That guy teams had to game plan for every week.

Leonard Floyd could pile up sacks courtesy of Mack’s presence

More from NFL Mocks