There's a lot of hype surrounding the Chicago Bears as they enter the 2018 season with a new head coach, a young quarterback with a revamped offense and a defense coming off a top 10 finish in 2017. The Bears are hoping they finally have everything in place to compete for the NFC North again by making additions to both sides of the football.

While the Bears brought in some new talent, it's a big year for a former first-round pick in terms of him taking the next step. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd will enter the new league year with something to prove early in his career.

After missing time in back-to-back years, Floyd hopes to stay healthy in 2018 and produce on the field like a top 10 pick should. The former Georgia linebacker has shown he can be productive when healthy and has flashed signs of being a dominant edge rusher early in his career.

In his rookie season, Floyd started in 12 games, recording 7 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a safety and a touchdown. He missed four games after suffering concussions against the New York Giants and Washington Redskins. A year later Floyd started all 10 games he played in, recording 4.5 sacks, 24 tackles and a safety. He appeared to be hitting his stride for a Bears defense that was playing very well in the middle of the season.

After spraining two ligaments in his right knee against the Detroit Lions, Floyd missed the final six games of the regular season. His rehab would go into the offseason where he was limited at OTA's before participating in the veteran minicamp. As we approach the start of training camp, Floyd is expected to be ready to go in Bourbonnais.

But after suffering that knee injury, Floyd has been limited in offseason workouts. That's something that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio knows has held him back just a little.

"Well, it has. I think it delays his development more last year when it happened and he missed the last whatever four or five games it was," Fangio said. "But it has. There’s no way around that. Everybody needs as many reps in practice as they can get. He’s really anxious to do it. He’s been begging the trainers and medical people to let him out there a little earlier. But I think he’ll overcome it."

Entering his third season, Floyd is the Bears primary edge rusher and the team is counting on a productive year from him. The Bears brought in Aaron Lynch to play opposite of Floyd but with his injury history, there's some concern that he also won't be able to stay on the field. The Bears did draft Kylie Fitts in the sixth round but it's not really fair to expect him to come in and dominate right away.

Chicago is putting their chips all in on Floyd counting on him to have a dominant year on the edge. For a player that was drafted high, the Bears are hoping Floyd can become that dominant player on the outside for years to come.

His teammate, Akiem Hicks, praised the linebacker in the offseason saying that Floyd has the talent to be a Pro Bowl player in the NFL. He hopes to see it happen this season as the Bears are hoping for another top 10 finish on the defensive side of the ball.

"One of my personal favorites for the Pro Bowl this year is Floyd," Hicks said. "It’s his time. It’s his time to bounce back and take over and be the type of rusher that I know he can be. I’m excited for him.”

Floyd not only has to be productive but he's also a guy the team is counting on to step up and become a leader. This young Bears defense will look up to the veterans like Danny Trevathan and Akiem Hicks but there's a spot for a younger guy to step up and have his voice heard.

There's one player that Floyd is familiar with in Chicago's 2018 draft class. Floyd and first-round pick Roquan Smith played together at Georgia for one season back in 2015 but have developed a bond. Smith looked up to Floyd while at Georgia and now he'll have the chance to play alongside him in Chicago.

"It’s going to be insane. Leonard Floyd, I looked up to the guy a lot," Smith said following the NFL Draft. "Coming from Georgia, he was an older guy. He was a redshirt junior when I was a freshman. So it was definitely big looking up to him. I’m a young guy, big-eyed freshman, like this guy is pretty special to see him go eighth overall to the Chicago Bears, so I’m beyond excited right now.”

If Floyd can show that he can be consistent at the NFL level, Chicago just might have two Georgia products as their future at the linebacker position.