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It became apparent to Ryan Pace and John Fox shortly after the Bears started practicing last summer. Their new team was too slow.

The collective deficit, particularly on defense, was a cinder block weighing down the nascent program. And after the general manager and coach watched it over 16 painstaking games, they entered the offseason determined to fix it.

Mission became action in the Halas Hall draft room Thursday shortly after 8 p.m. when the Buccaneers went on the clock with the ninth pick. Pace phoned his longtime friend, Bucs GM Jason Licht, and traded up two spots in the first round to select Georgia outside linebacker Leonard Floyd with the ninth pick.

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Floyd is an explosive athlete whose incomplete body of work thrusts him into the NFL as a projection of sorts. At 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds, he carries a boom-or-bust label that could depend on his ability to get stronger and handle the power of NFL blockers.

Pace gushed about his upside, seeming certain the Bears coaching and strength staffs will make sure Floyd proves worthy of their desire.

“He just brings great athleticism for a guy that tall with that kind of length,” Pace said. “He brings some juice to our defense that we need.”

The Bears targeted Floyd for his pass-rushing burst off the edge and 33-inch arms. Their homework convinced them the Buccaneers or Giants, who picked 10th, were high on him. So Pace gave up the Bears’ first-round pick and the first of their two fourth-round picks (No. 106 overall) to get their man.

When news of the trade reached the Auditorium Theatre downtown, fans buzzed in anticipation. The hometown team was moving with conviction. But that reaction was bigger than for the actual pick. When Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Floyd, the crowd was lukewarm.

Then, those in the theater were left without a glimpse of him. Other prospects soaked in the adulation as they walked across the stage to greet Goodell, but Floyd did not attend the draft. He watched with his family near Atlanta because of the financial burden of getting everyone to Chicago, he said via teleconference.

All of that did nothing to dampen the Bears’ enthusiasm. In addition to Floyd’s pass-rush prowess, Pace said he believes Floyd will answer questions about his ability to win against power in the run game.

Said Pace: “John always says this: ‘We can get him stronger, we can get him bigger. We can’t get him faster and more athletic.'”

He’ll work with the Bears strength and sports science coaches as soon as he joins the program, and their approach will be measured. Pace targets a playing weight in the 240s.

Floyd understands the work ahead of him and embraced it.

“I definitely want to add more mass to my body,” he said. “I want to add more power to my pass-rush moves … to go with my speed.”

Getting stronger should help Floyd against the run, one of his biggest question marks.

Less than a week before the draft, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock called him “one of my most conflicted players.”

“There’s a big part of me that wants to say he’s a top-10 talent,” Mayock said. “And there’s another part of me that when I look back at my notes, and I’ve (evaluated) at least six of his games, and all over the place I have the word ‘underpowered.’

“Not just at the point of attack, but when he gets stuck in the pass game, also, rushing the quarterback. If he doesn’t win with speed … he gets stuck. That worries me.”

But Mayock and many others acknowledge his athleticism, length and burst off the edge. And Pace loves how Floyd uses his long arms to separate from blockers and shed them.

“We said all along that we wanted to improve our athleticism and speed on our defense,” Pace said. “We’ve definitely done that.”

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