Bears exercise option on Floyd, hire Childress to help with offense

The Bears on Wednesday officially exercised the fifth-year option on outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and hired Aurora native Brad Childress as a senior offensive assistant.

Floyd, 26, the ninth overall selection in the 2016 draft, is slated to earn approximately $13 million in his 2020 team option season that's guaranteed for injury only. The last part is key: Floyd missed a combined 10 games in his first two seasons with injuries prior to producing a career year in 2018, despite breaking his right hand in the preseason in August and requiring a padded cast early in the year.

But Floyd showed his toughness by battling early on through the injury to play his first full 16-game regular season, the second half of which was easily his most impressive in the NFL. Floyd doesn't put up gaudy sack totals but has improved markedly as a long and physical edge setter whose speed creates a lot of defensive flexibility and wreaks havoc on opposing game plans.

Floyd, who signed a four-year, $15.7 million rookie deal with the standard fifth-year option, has 15 ½ career sacks, 23 tackles for loss, one interception and one forced fumble in his career. The Bears' decision to pick up his option became somewhat of a no-brainer after the blockbuster acquisition - and subsequent record-breaking contract extension - for Khalil Mack and seeing the impressive traction a healthy Floyd generated last season.

Because the Bears don't have first- and fourth-round picks in the 2020 draft, their ability to find Floyd's replacement at a premium position perhaps is lessened. They're also not paying a first-round pick this year and likely next, so even with their salary-cap limitations, the Bears can earmark those resources for GM Ryan Pace's first first-rounder selected on defense.

Childress, the former Minnesota Vikings head coach and colleague of Matt Nagy with the Kansas City Chiefs, was initially hired by the Bears in February of 2018, but he left last April to become a head coach in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football League. It's worth noting Childress, after switching gears shortly after coming to Chicago, ultimately resigned from his post as coach of the Atlanta Legends in January.

Childress guided the Vikings to a 39-35 record and pair of division titles over five seasons (2006-10) prior to becoming the Chiefs offensive coordinator from 2013-15, co-offensive coordinator with Nagy in '16 and assistant head coach the following year. He joins new DC Chuck Pagano as the second assistant under Nagy with previous head-coaching experience.

Assuming Childress remains with the team this season, he'll provide another sounding board for Nagy in Year 2 of his offensive build. Childress oversaw the start of Adrian Peterson's career in Minnesota, where the future Hall of Famer went to four consecutive Pro Bowls under his watch, and figures to work closely with top pick David Montgomery and a run game that ranked only 27th in yards per carry last season.

• Arthur Arkush is the managing editor for Pro Football Weekly. For more on the NFL, visit profootballweekly.com and follow Arthur on Twitter @arthurarkush or @PFWeekly.