What does Pro Football Focus think about the Chicago Bears selection of Western Kentucky linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe?
Joel Iyiegbuniwe was a bit of a shocker as an unknown coming into the 2018 NFL draft. However, the Chicago Bears were sure to add the hybrid outside/inside linebacker in the fourth round. Daniel Jeremiah warned us this might happen, he knew the NFL was higher on Iyiegbuniwe than most were. He cited speed and special teams. While Pro Football Focus does not grade special teams play, based on how he graded out on the field, you can understand what kind of player the Chicago Bears are getting in him.
In the passing game, you may find better. He ranked 105th in the country in yards per coverage snap and ranked 90th in cover snap per target. When he was in coverage teams were targeting him and he was giving it up.
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However, he was a pass rusher at Western Kentucky for the most part. This was not a part of his job. Still, even in terms of pass rush, you can see why, on top of speed, this is not his translatable position. Iyiegbuniwe ranked 80th in pass rush productivity.
So what does he do? He tackles, he runs, he defends the run. Iyiegbuniwe ranked 35th in the country in run stop percentage. He ranked 44th in tackling efficiency and 54th yards per tackle.
As you can see in his grading chart, run grade, run stop %, and tackling efficiency heavily influence his overall grade.
So while we do not have the grading for his special teams play, I think you can understand where the hype comes from. He finds the ball and he efficiently ends plays. That is valuable in today’s NFL and is what has the Chicago Bears investing.