Leonard Floyd explains the deciding factors that led him to signing with the San Francisco 49ers.
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00:00 - The 49ers recently hired Brandon Staley
00:02 as the assistant head coach.
00:03 How well do you know him?
00:04 Have you spoken to him recently
00:05 and what does he bring the team?
00:07 - Yeah, Coach Staley, man, that's my guy.
00:10 I've been knowing Coach Staley
00:11 since my second year in the league.
00:15 So it's been a long time of knowing him.
00:17 And yeah, he knows me too.
00:20 He knows what type of player I am
00:22 and what I bring to the table.
00:24 And yeah, that's my guy, for sure.
00:29 - Leonard, can you elaborate on that?
00:30 Why is he your guy?
00:33 What about him do you like, Brandon Staley?
00:36 - What I like about him is he one of those guys, man,
00:41 you ain't even gotta pay him.
00:43 He'll still show up and do his job for the game.
00:46 Like he loves the game.
00:49 He loves the game to death.
00:51 He's a diehard, diehard guy.
00:54 He rides for his guys on the field.
00:58 And he'll about getting you better, man.
01:00 Anything to help a player get better,
01:02 he'll pretty much buy into it and help you out with it.
01:05 - Hey, Leonard, just wondering what your familiarity is
01:10 with Robert Beal, whether you've met him in the past
01:15 and what do you think about him?
01:17 - Oh, I haven't had a chance to meet him.
01:26 I was at Georgia way before he got there, so.
01:28 But I do look forward to meeting him, man,
01:32 'cause shoot, that's like my brother already.
01:35 We played at Georgia.
01:36 I'm gonna make sure I do whatever for him.
01:39 - Well, let me ask you this then.
01:41 That transition from outside linebacker
01:43 to playing defensive end,
01:45 I know that you did that last year in Buffalo,
01:48 but is that something that you could help somebody
01:51 like Robert Beal, who's played outside linebacker,
01:54 is sort of transitioning to a new-ish position in the NFL?
01:58 - Yeah, I definitely believe I'm always the type of player
02:03 that if I can give you any type of knowledge
02:06 of something I know that you might not know,
02:08 I'll give it to you.
02:09 I'm all about building my teammates up.
02:14 So anything he needs, I'll help him with it.
02:17 It's not a situation where I'm gonna force myself in.
02:21 I'm gonna build a relationship with him first
02:24 and go from there.
02:26 - Hey, Leonard, sort of a follow-up to that.
02:32 I know you've done both, play with your hand down
02:34 and standing up in your career.
02:36 Do you have a preference on which of those
02:38 you like the most?
02:39 And also, just how do you think you kind of fit in
02:41 schematically here with some of the wide nine stuff they do?
02:45 - Yeah, it really don't matter to me
02:47 long as we sat at quarterback.
02:49 It really don't matter, standing up are a three point.
02:52 And scheme-wise, I'm an athlete,
02:56 so I fit any scheme to me personally.
03:01 All I need for my coach to do is teach me what to do
03:04 and where to go, and I'm gonna go 100%.
03:07 So pretty much, that's it.
03:09 - Hi, Leonard.
03:17 How familiar are you with Chris Kocerec
03:19 and what he has done as a defensive line coach?
03:22 - I'm familiar with him because some of the players
03:27 he coach, I've seen some of the players he coach
03:30 take off to a high level just from being in his room.
03:34 I know he's a guy that's gonna push me
03:37 to my highest level, a level I haven't reached yet,
03:41 and I'm looking forward to that.
03:42 I'm coming in every day ready to soak up the game from him
03:46 and just buying in to whatever he teaching,
03:49 whatever game plan we got, I'm buying into it 100%.
03:54 - He's known as being a very vocal coach.
03:56 Have you had that style of coach before in the past?
03:59 - Yeah, I believe I had every style of coaching,
04:03 but I'm always eager to play for a coach
04:07 who's loud and vocal.
04:09 I mean, when his players gotta come out
04:12 and stand on the words he's speaking on,
04:14 and I believe I'm gonna do that for him.
04:17 - Have you had a scheme, have you worked in a scheme
04:19 where you just purely go after the quarterback?
04:22 Some of the guys that came in last season,
04:24 kind of mid-season, had a time adjusting
04:26 to having that being their only job.
04:28 I think it was a different mindset.
04:31 - I believe I got like a little taste of it last year
04:36 with the Bills.
04:37 I didn't really drop that much.
04:39 I was always rushing.
04:41 To me, rushing is a good thing.
04:43 I'd rather rush all day than drop anyway.
04:45 So yeah, that's a good thing for me.
04:48 Send me as much as you want.
04:49 - Good, thank you.
04:52 - Branch, last one.
04:53 - Hey, Leonard, you have a reputation
04:59 for being relentless in nonstop mode or whatever.
05:02 Is that just been like your DNA?
05:06 Did that come from a coach early,
05:08 just to instill that kind of mindset in you?
05:12 - I believe it came from being a country boy.
05:16 I'm used to working in the fields.
05:18 I'm used to working like, when I was growing up,
05:21 I worked in the watermelon field.
05:23 So that's real hard labor.
05:25 So it teaches you to grind.
05:27 It teaches you real hard work.
05:31 So I'm just used to selling out and working hard
05:35 for whatever boss I got.
05:40 - How old were you when you started working in the fields
05:43 and how long did you do that?
05:44 - I started when I was ninth grade, summer,
05:49 high school, all the way to my 12th grade year.
05:53 Yeah.
05:55 - You enjoy that?
05:57 - No, I didn't.
05:58 But I had to buy school clothes and school shoes.
06:02 So I had to.
06:03 - How much did your past experience going up
06:05 against the 49ers lead you in this direction as well?
06:09 - It led a lot because going against cats like George Kittle
06:14 that offense, man, it's a physical bunch.
06:18 And I feel like, man, if I come in,
06:21 I get that at practice every day.
06:23 Like I get to go against George Kittle every day.
06:26 It'll mold me for a great season.
06:28 It'll help mold me and build myself up
06:30 for a great season this year.
06:32 - Hey, Leonard, Jason Dumas with Channel 4 in San Francisco.
06:39 Nice to meet you.
06:40 I guess, first off, how familiar are you
06:44 with some of your new teammates,
06:45 specifically some of the guys
06:47 who will be on the defensive line with you?
06:49 Did you have any relationships
06:51 with any of those guys prior to this?
06:53 And then what other options did you have
06:55 and who did you pick San Francisco over?
06:58 - I'll probably say what made me choose San Francisco
07:07 and what made me choose this team.
07:10 - Not what made you choose this team,
07:13 more specifically, what were some of your other options?
07:16 Like, did you have a number of different options
07:18 that you weighed before you ultimately picked San Francisco
07:21 with San Francisco kind of just the only team on your mind?
07:25 - Yeah, I got a call from my agent.
07:27 I had quite a few offers, quite a few offers,
07:31 but what it was, man, the 49ers didn't bullshit around.
07:36 They was out the gate, came in with a great deal.
07:40 It was a solid, solid deal for me.
07:43 And it really wasn't no second guessing it, man.
07:46 They showed that they wanted me from the jump.
07:49 So once I saw that, I'm like, shoot, I want y'all too.
07:53 So I'm on the way.
07:55 That's pretty much how I went.
07:57 - Sorry, and then just secondly,
07:59 are you familiar with any of the guys
08:00 you're about to line up on that defensive line with?
08:02 Did you have any relationships with them before
08:05 or will you be meeting a lot of these guys
08:07 for the first time?
08:08 - I'll be meeting a lot of them for the first time,
08:11 but some of the guys I knew just from being in the league,
08:15 you will hear their name,
08:17 you will hear their name pop up from having great games.
08:20 Like Malik, I've heard about him having some great games
08:26 down there in Houston.
08:28 Cats like that.
08:29 It's been more of the guys that I knew
08:33 just from being good players.
08:35 - Hey, Leonard, Eric Blanchard with the San Francisco
08:42 Chronicle.
08:44 You have played, I think including playoffs,
08:47 something like 118 straight games.
08:50 I might have that wrong, but over 100 straight games.
08:53 Are there certain things that you attribute
08:57 your durability to?
09:00 And yeah, I guess that's the question.
09:03 How have you been able to do that?
09:05 - Shoot, it comes from taking care of my body
09:11 and it's overall the mindset thing.
09:14 I'm not saying I'm going into every game 100%.
09:17 It'd be Knicks and Knacks,
09:18 but I'm man enough to play through it.
09:21 That's really what it comes down to.
09:23 - Hi, Leonard, Tracy Sandler from Fangirls Sports Network.
09:30 Congratulations.
09:31 You said that you'll be meeting a lot of the guys
09:33 for the first time.
09:34 Have you had an opportunity to talk at all from Nick Bosa?
09:38 Have you heard from him at all in the last week?
09:39 And same for your coach, Chris Kocerec.
09:42 - Yeah, I had talked to Nick once.
09:46 Once I had committed on the signing,
09:48 we had a text on Instagram,
09:51 eager to play with each other pretty much,
09:55 which I look forward to.
09:56 And yeah, I just talked to the coach today
10:00 and I'm looking forward to playing with him, man.
10:03 I'm looking forward to getting out and doing my job
10:05 and just being a professional.