What do the advanced stats say about the Chicago Bears signing of Germain Ifedi?
Germain Ifedi was a first-round pick with the Seattle Seahawks. However, after four years, the Seahawks let Ifedi test the market, where he wound up with the Chicago Bears. Given the Bears gave him a minimum salary on a one-year deal to be a backup, it is clear there was not a market for a player who once had first-round talent.
When looking into the advanced stats of Germain Ifedi, they tend to agree with the marker. Ifedi is 26, but there may not be much here.
To start, he does have 1,013 snaps at right guard. 950 came in 2016 during his rookie season, but he does have experience at right guard and may compete to start there. However, Ifedi has 3,350 snaps at right tackle, including 1,258 last season.
Pressure Allowed and Pass Block Efficiency
Last season Ifedi allowed seven sacks and 52 pressures in total, according to PFF. Over the four seasons as a starter, Ifedi has allowed 22 sacks in total, an average of 5.5 allowed per year. In 2018, he only allowed 31 total pressures but allowed 52 in 2017 and 41 in 2016.
In total, he has been charged with 176 pressures allowed, an average of 44 allowed per year. To put that into perspective, Bobby Massie has allowed 21, 26, 38, and 37 over that span. Massie has some high totals but is nowhere near Ifedi. Last season Ifedi ranked second in pressures allowed, and has finished in the top ten in three of four years in that category.
Last season he ranked 48th in pass block efficiency in 2019. He ranked 44th, 39th, and 58th in the years prior. All-in-all he is close to being one of the worst starting tackles in the NFL in every year of his career so far.
Penalties
Another issue has been penalties. He has 14, 11, 19, and 9 by year. His 53 is 39 less than Massie, who has just 14 penalties over four years. Charles Leno has a penalty problem but has 13, 6, 13, and 6 over his four years, totaling 38. That is 13 less than Ifedi over the same span.
Overall
Germain Ifedi is not going to be in the running to start, at least not at tackle. Perhaps kicking inside can bring out the best of a 26-year old former first-round pick. He has nothing to lose, so he is sure to try. However, his resume has a lot of downside to this point in his career.