Chicago Bears: Breaking down this week’s press conferences

Chicago Bears players are determined to make the playoffs.

Germain Ifedi continued…

Ifedi played a lot more guard in college but was moved to tackle because of the needs of his college and professional teams. He views himself more as a player who thrives inside rather than playing outside. He was also asked about his bad habit of having a lot of penalties.

Having a lot of penalties has been something that has hurt Ifedi throughout his career. Ifedi’s Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades have reflected that he is a sound blocker but loses a lot of points due to his large numbers of penalties. Coach Matt Nagy fired Harry Heistand for Juan Castillo, who fits Matt Nagy’s vision scheme-wise.

While the Chicago Bears coaching staff did not pay Ifedi to come in and take the starting right guard spot, he is a favorite to win the job over Rashaad Coward who was actually projected as more of a right tackle after he was switched to the offensive side of the ball.

As a fan of running the ball, I find it intriguing that Ifedi sees himself as a “road grading” run blocker. The Chicago Bears have missed that type of talent on the offensive line since Kyle Long was fully healthy early in his career. Ifedi sounds confident that he will be able to find cohesion with whoever he is playing next to due to his experience.

Ifedi is still young at 26 years old too. He knows he failed to live up to his first-round expectations in Seattle but is willing to put in the hard work to get his game to the next level. Just imagine if the Chicago Bears can unlock that from him on the inside, which seems to be his natural position.

Sometimes first-round draft picks don’t pan out as expected. Alex Smith was let go by the San Fransico 49ers and later became the first-round talent with the Kansas City Chiefs over his four years with the team.