Floyd Embracing Leadership Role in First Season with Falcons

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – Leonard Floyd didn’t go looking for a coaching role, but that role seems to have found him with the Atlanta Falcons. 

Floyd, who will turn 33 years old the day after he starts his 10th NFL season in September, has been the model of consistency throughout his career. He has not missed a single game since 2017, and, after moving from the Bears to the Rams in 2020, has accounted for 48 sacks (or about 9.5 per season).

That total would be a team-best for the Falcons and almost double the cumulative total of the franchise’s leading sack guy in each of those seasons (27.5). 

Just last season with the San Francisco 49ers, he was able to continue his run of productive football. After a Week 11 injury to All-Pro edge Nick Bosa, Floyd was able to take on his role of primary pass rusher. 

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, he thrived.

In that period between Weeks 11 and 14, Floyd generated 15 pressures (T-13th most) and 5.5 sacks (most). His 19.2 percent pressure rate over that span was the 8th-highest in the NFL (min. 50 pass rushes). 

Yeah, it’s pretty safe to say that he’s still got it. 

“You’ve got a guy who’s a little bit older than everybody,” Falcons outside linebackers coach Jacquies Smith said after practice on Tuesday. “The thing that I love about Flo [Leonard Floyd], man, he is the perfect guy for the room. Not only does he talk about it, but he comes out on the practice field and he shows these guys how to work. He’s always working. He’s always talking about it. That’s like an extra, added coach for me in the locker room.”  

With the team still searching for its edge during training camp (no pun intended), the veteran pass rusher has taken on this new role and challenged his young teammates to embrace the same fire he brings to every rep.

That ‘edge’ emerged on Sunday, and whether he was a part of the instigation or not, Floyd was right there in the middle of it. 

“You’re always looking for guys that have a good sense of controlled violence,” Smith explained. “Especially when you’re talking about a defense. Defenses are supposed to be known as ferocious and violent, all of the strong words you’d use. If we can add a little bit of that edge, in the right way, we’re always looking for guys like that.” 

Being there for his teammates was an important lesson he’s gleaned from his years with players like Aaron Donald in Los Angeles. 

“You’ve gotta ride for your guys on defense, even if he’s in the wrong you still got to ride for him,” Floyd said on Tuesday. “I seen a whole lot of white jerseys and his little black jersey, so I ran over there to defend him.” 

Now, as a member of the Atlanta Falcons, the savvy veteran has adopted this new veteran leadership role. 

“It's great,” Floyd explained. “I never expected myself to be in this role, but I'm embracing it, and I'm loving it so far. I love my young guys, and we gonna go out and get out of the quarterback.”

Whether he expected to play this role for the Falcons or not, he says that it is something that’s always been a part of him. 

“That’s just the southern gentleman in me,” he joked. “My grandma raised me to be that way. You know, if I know someone showed the next guy how to do it.” 

Floyd now leads the charge for a unit that finished second-to-last in pressure rate, sack rate, and team sacks. Numbers that, he says, will be different in 2025 because of the increased depth and overall talent of this room. 

“This [defense] reminds me of my time in Buffalo [in 2023],” he explained about the depth of the Falcons’ pass rush in 2025. “We had a lot of guys that could come in and play in the rotation, [so we] just rotated guys.” 

For anyone counting at home, that Bills team pulled the quarterback down 54 times that season, which was fourth-best in the NFL that season. 

The Falcons will surely have a long way to go before they can reach that total in a single season, but it’s a testament to how much of an emphasis the front office has put on bringing bodies into the room. With the influx of fresh talent, Floyd has made a point to see how he can help this next generation of pass rushers reach their potential. 

As a mentor, he has taken rookies Jalon Walker and James Pearce under his wing. Pearce, in particular, has been someone he’s taken a keen interest in.

“He's slowly becoming a pro, day by day,” he said about Pearce. “He's learning the ins and outs of being a professional, which includes showing up to the training room, rehab, and meetings on time. He's showing it day by day, how to be a professional.” 

For a Falcons defense still searching for its identity, Floyd represents what that could look like: disciplined, violent, and relentless. If Atlanta manages to find its edge this fall, it’ll be thanks in part to a veteran who never stopped sharpening his.

Back in his home state this season, Floyd is not just chasing quarterbacks. 

This year, he’s also shaping the next wave of Falcons who will do it after him. With a decade of production behind him and a young room eager to absorb his habits, his voice matters as much as his pass rush in the Falcons’ defensive revival.

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