Chicago Bears: Joel Iyiegbuniwe future starter at ILB?

Player Profile (continued)

Weaknesses

Naturally, of course, Iyiegbuniwe has some rawness to sort out; what prospect doesn’t?

In particular, he has a tendency to “stay blocked” a bit, especially when engaged with bigger bodies. Again, that occurred most frequently when he played on the outside and tried to set the edge. Despite his solid frame, he doesn’t have great arm length to stack and shed blockers, nor does he always punch blockers first to stun them.

He also needs to keep his motor running a bit hotter, with some tendency to loaf when plays run away from him.

Sometimes, he gets it going to run down a ball carrier as with the Ridley play above. But other times, especially when there’s a lot of traffic to pick through, he coasts to the play in pursuit.

Though he eventually makes this play — also, this cutback isn’t solely his fault — he could have been more aggressive to attack the ball carrier and possibly limit this play. Instead, he has to scramble to make the tackle 15 yards later.

Also, though he has solid natural ability has a cover man, he can still learn how to pick through traffic better there as well. Here, he gets slowed down just enough by this route combination for the running back to separate from him on the wheel route.

The Chicago Bears will be able to teach him how to defend the pass or anchor as a run defender better. And hopefully, playing in the NFL and having to rise to the competition level will raise his level of play.

But he’s going to need to bring the fire himself on every play. Fangio can’t do that for him. The mentality is there for him to be a very good football player, but it has to be consistent.