The 49ers may have to reconsider what Leonard Floyd’s role is going to be for them in 2024 if they believe he can be an every-down player for them at this point in his career. The good news is there’s a blueprint of their own they can follow to maximize their veteran defensive lineman.
Floyd last season for the Bills missed a whopping 37 percent of his tackles according to Pro Football Focus. That was by far the highest missed tackle rate of his career.
Buffalo primarily used Floyd on passing downs, which led to him playing a 576 total snaps and 167 snaps against the run. The total snaps were his fewest since 2018, while the run snaps were his fewest ever. This is a pattern the 49ers should be following this season.
It’s true that San Francisco doesn’t have a ton of great edge depth alongside Nick Bosa. Floyd is by most measures their second-best defensive end and he’ll probably start every game. Finding a more reliable tackler and edge setter in the run game to allow Floyd to be more of a pass rush specialist will be crucial.
The 49ers employed this strategy in 2019 with edge rusher Dee Ford. When Ford was healthy he was a sub-package defender in passing situations with Arik Armstead working in as the defensive end in base packages for run downs. Armstead would kick inside for passing downs and Ford would come in and wreak havoc off the edge.
While Floyd is plenty qualified to play the Ford role in this instance, the 49ers don’t have a player the caliber of Armstead to line up on the edge now that Armstead left to join the Jaguars this offseason.
That’s where players like Drake Jackson, Robert Beal Jr. and Yetur Gross-Matos can have their biggest impact. Jackson and Beal are still unproven, but Gross-Matos had good success as a run defender in the second half of last season with the Panthers. That lends some credence to the idea he could line up in the Armstead role where he is outside in base packages with Leonard working as a sub-package rusher.
Of course, there’s a chance the 49ers believe Floyd’s rough tackling year last year was an anomaly. San Francisco is good enough in the second level to provide more support for their defensive line and their range at linebacker takes pressure off their edge rushers to defend a lot in space. San Francisco may see Floyd as an every-down player for them given their lack of proven depth on the roster.
It’s clear at this point though the ideal scenario for the 49ers is one where another DE shines enough as a run defender to play that spot in run situations, allowing Floyd to take on that primary pass rush role. If they’re running into a scenario where Floyd is on the field for all three downs, it means something elsewhere on the roster has gone terribly wrong.
