Leonard Floyd is "so friggin’ excited" to be with the Chicago Bears

Last night Chicago Bears first round draft pick Leonard Floyd met the media via a conference call from his Aunt's home in Georgia. He invited friends and family over for a semi-private affair as he awaited to hear which team would call his name. The Bears jumped ahead of the New York Giants to ensure they would get their guy.

When asked why he didn't fly to Chicago for the draft, Floyd showed a frugal side to his personality, "I didn't want to go to Chicago because I feel like it would be better for me financially to stay rather than spend extra money trying take all the rest of my family to Chicago."

CBS Sports salary cap expert Joel Corry reports that Floyd, as the 9th pick in the draft, is looking at a contract with the maximum of $15,782,987 in his 4 year deal. The Bears will have the right to exercise a 5th year option in 2020. Floyd's signing bonus will be no more than $9,678,536. I think Floyd could probably spring for an all family vacation in the near future.

Here are some other highlights from Floyd's conference call.

When asked  his thoughts on becoming a member of the Chicago Bears

"I'm so friggin' excited about being a Chicago Bear. I can't wait to just get up there and get around these guys and get back to football."

On what Bears fans are going to see out of him as a player

"They're definitely going to see a lot of speed, a lot of explosion. They're going to be able to tell that I love to win and I'll do anything to win and I'm gonna play like that."

On what he thinks about the Bears trading up for him

"That makes me think that the organization really believes in me and what I can bring to the table for the team. I'm going to come in with a major chip on my shoulder ready to prove myself to the Chicago organization."

The Bears did have him in for a private visit, so he was asked if he knew the Bears were interested in drafting him.

"Oh yeah. I knew they were interested pretty much the whole Draft process. They always showed me the most love of all the teams that I had been to."

On how Georgia used him in their defensive scheme.

"I've been multiple things in the scheme. I played outside. I played the inside. I lined up pretty much everywhere. I also did a lot of three-point stances so I'm pretty much comfortable doing pretty much anything in a 3-4 scheme."

Georgia's various uses for him was a big reason he didn't produce gaudy sack numbers in college.

On what NFL player he has modeled his game after.

"I want to emulate DeMarcus Ware. I want to be the spitting image of him. I want to dominate the league for a long time and sack quarterbacks."

On other abilities besides rushing the passer

"I'm pretty good in coverage. I covered a lot in college. I did a lot of covering of tight ends so I'm pretty comfortable covering. I don't feel like that's an area where I'm not comfortable in. I feel like I'll be fine at the next level."

Floyd's playing weight has been discussed the entire draft process, so he was asked about that.

"I definitely want to add more mass to my body. Other than that I just planned on getting coached up. I know Chicago [has] some of the best coaches in the League. I know they're going to coach me up hard. I'm excited and I'm ready to learn."

Floyd had 244 pounds packed onto his 6'6" frame at the combine. The Bears won't want to lose any speed with bad weight, so I would imagine Chicago's weight training staff and nutritionists have a plan in place for him.

On what he needs to improve at the next level.

"I will probably say, I want to add more power into my pass rush moves, develop a great power move to go with my speed. I feel like that's a big thing I need to learn and pick up in the League."

Speaking of power, a lot was made of Floyd's decision not to bench at the combine or his pro day, and he was asked about that,

"No, sir, I didn't bench at my Pro Day. I benched for some teams when they came to work me out privately."

On joining a veteran linebacking corps.

"My impressions are I'm just going to come in, knowing that I'm a rookie, I'm going to be quiet, listen to all the guys and what they have to say. Just learn from them and how they take it every day."

Floyd is a humble, high character guy that will seamlessly fit in with the Bears' locker room culture.

Be sure to check out the Ryan Pace transcripts from his press conference right here.

I recently dropped my Rounds 2-7 mock draft, and that can be found right here. FYI, I nailed the Bears 2nd round pick last year in my 2-7 mock, so maybe I'll get two in a row.

We have a Draft pre-party open thread and a bonus Bears Den open thread for your open threading overload!

Sam hit on the best players still available right here.

Kev went around the NFC North to see how they drafted right here.

And Josh gave us a first round recap right here.