Top Rams players from the 2022 season, No. 6: Leonard Floyd

Jan 30, 2023 - 4:01 PM

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The 2022 Los Angeles Rams season featured a lot of changing parts. Franchise cornerstone Andrew Whitworth retired after the Super Bowl. 2021 mid-season trade acquisition Von Miller went east and joined the Buffalo Bills. Robert Woods was traded to the Tennessee Titans. And Odell Beckham Jr went unsigned as he recovered from an ACL tear. From Week 1, the Rams started losing starters to injuries. This forced new names into more prominent roles.

In continuing the countdown list of the 2022 Los Angeles Rams top 15 individual performers, let’s take a quick look first at the current list.

#15 - Van Jefferson, WR

#14 - Tutu Atwell, WR

#13 - Matthew Stafford, QB

#12 - Ernest Jones, ILB

#11 - Michael Hoecht, EDGE

#10 - Tyler Higbee, TE

#9 - Decobie Durant, CB

#8 - Rob Havenstein, RT

#7 - Aaron Donald, DL

Staying on the defense side of the ball, the Rams 2022 sack leader checks in next…

#6 - Leonard Floyd, EDGE

The 2022 season was certainly a tale of two halves for Floyd. Through the first six games of the season, Floyd failed to record any sacks. At the midway point in the season, Floyd only managed to get to the quarterback twice. Shockingly, despite the Rams missing A’Shawn Robinson and Aaron Donald for the final six games, Floyd managed to shine in their absences. Floyd recorded 35 pressures over that span. He finished the season with 9.0 sacks which was in line with his 2020 and 2021 production.

Floyd had three games of at least two sacks (vs. San Francisco 49ers, at New Orleans Saints, and at the Green Bay Packers). His best performance was against the Saints in which he sacked Andy Dalton twice and recorded two tackles for a loss, earning an 80.4 PFF grade. Against the Denver Broncos in Week 16, Floyd was a disruptor against Russell Wilson. He pressured him a team high six times.

The frustration for fans in the early half of 2022 with Floyd was certainly production based. But it appeared Raheem Morris was using him as an off-ball linebacker at an odd rate. It wasn’t until he started sending the edge rusher on blitzes that the production finally started coming. There was a point where Floyd was in danger of being a cap casualty release this offseason if his production did not improve.

Floyd is under-appreciated for his run defense, helping the Rams steadily become one of the best defenses against the run in the last two seasons. Floyd likely stays with Los Angeles for another year, unless they need cap relief in which they need to move on from some of their higher cap hits.

His other improvement in 2022 was his tackling, only missing four tackles this year as opposed to 11 in 2021. His PFF grade for the 2022 season was 65.7.