The NFC West is a nasty place. The Los Angeles Rams wanted to make sure they didn't lose Leonard Floyd in free agency. They secured him on Monday, inking the linebacker to a four-year, $64 million deal shortly after the San Francisco 49ers signed Dee Ford and kept him in the fold.
Clearly, the Rams and 49ers both saw the urgent need to retain important pieces of defenses which will be hard for the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals to solve in 2021 and beyond.
Rams are giving LB Leonard Floyd a four-year, $64 million deal, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2021
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network has also confirmed the deal:
It’s $16M per year for Leonard Floyd. Large. https://t.co/QOPQfiJQF2
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2021
The Rams' defense took them a long way in the 2020 NFL season, carrying them past the Seahawks in the wild card round and into the divisional playoffs. Los Angeles got as much from its defense as it could have hoped for, with Leonard Floyd being part of a strong 11-man group.
However, the Rams didn't have enough juice on offense. That's why they parted with Jared Goff and gave the Detroit Lions a lot of assets in exchange for Matthew Stafford. By keeping Floyd on board, the Rams took an important step toward constructing a Super Bowl roster for the 2021 season.
There was a lot of interest in Floyd in the market, and the Rams have done an impressive job of retaining his services. This won't come cheap for Los Angeles, but given how Floyd has emerged as a key player on the squad, it appears that this is going to be money well spent for the Rams. This move also virtually shuts the door for L.A. in terms of bringing in a big-name free agent to their team during the offseason as the Floyd re-signing represents a huge chunk of their available cap space.
Stay tuned to ClutchPoints for more on this developing story and the rest of NFL free agency.
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