The Chicago Bears signed Larry Ogunjobi to a three-year deal, marking the first big signing of free agency for the new regime. While many expected the move to be offensively related, it is fair to note how talent-depleted the defensive line is. They had to sign someone, and that wound up being Ogunjobi.
Larry Ogunjobi may be a new name to many Chicago Bears as he started his career with the Cleveland Browns, then spent a year in the same division and state with the Cincinnati Bengals. Now that he is with the Chicago Bears, what is there to know?
5. Larry Ogunjobi missed one start over the past four seasons due to injury
We have to note that Larry Ogbunjobi was injured in the Bengals’ first playoff game, and wound up missing the end of their Super Bowl run. Still, since 2018, when he took over as a starter he has only been inactive once due to injury in the regular season. That came week five of the 2020 season due to a foot injury.
He was suspended one game as he was involved in the duel between Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph and was inactive for week 18 of last season as the team already clinched a playoff spot. If the Chicago Bears are looking for reliability and a player who stays on the field, that is Ogunjobi.
This is likely a key to why they signed him, too,
Larry Ogunjobi has played over 747 snaps one each of the past four seasons. Akiem Hicks has done that twice in the past four seasons, and once in the past three. Bilal Nichols and Eddie Goldman have never played 747 snaps in a season before.
When those are the other options for the Chicago Bears, the fact that he hit that mark each of the past four seasons goes a long way. He is considered much more reliable than all of the former starters in Chicago.
4. Larry Ogunjobi can move around Chicago Bears defensive line
One thing to note about Larry Ogunjobi is that he can and has played up and down the line. He often lives between the guard and center, but even in that regard, he can bounce around from over the left guard to over the right guard, everywhere in between.
For his career, Larry Ogunjobi spent 58.5% of his snaps in the B-Gap, which is between the guard and tackle. He spent 27,4% in the A-Gap, which is between the center and guard. Then he spent 13.2% of his snaps over the tackle, and 1% outside on the edge.
The Bengals used him a bit differently, and that may be how you expect to see him in Chicago.
Last season he spent 62% of his snaps in the B-Gap and just 6.6% in the A-Gap. He spent 13.2% of his career snaps over the tackle, but 27.% of his snaps in 2021 came there.
Lastly, Ogunjobi moves from left to right. he spent 64% of his snaps in 2021 over the left guard, and 35% over the right guard. In 2020, it was 56% over the left guard, and 35% over the right guard, with more snaps coming at nose tackle.
Still, the Chicago Bears have not usually done this with their defensive line. For instance, Akiem Hicks spent 90% of his snaps last season against the right guard. Bilal Nichols was exclusively matched up with the left guard. For Ogunjobi, he moves around much more, and it makes you assume the coaches will move their defensive lineman around more as well.
3. Larry Ogunjobi is coming off a career year
After spending four years with the Cleveland Browns, it appears the rival Bengals saw something in Larry Ogunjobi and decided to bet on him, It paid off as Ogunjobi wound up having the best year of his career.
The 7 sacks from Larry Ogunjobi in 2021 eclipsed 5.5 which was his top mark. He also had 41 pressures, per PFF, which was more than his 36 career-best mark in Cleveland. Larry Ogunjobi also had 12 tackles for loss, which eclipsed his career-best 10, and he had 16 quarterback hits, which topped his career-high 15.
It was noted in the previous slide that one thing the Bengals did was move him away from the center a bit more. Spending more time between the guard and tackle, and less right over the nose tackle has increased his ability to get after the passer, and it shows.
This is where you would expect the Chicago Bears to use him considering he had his most success here. You also would think that they saw him hit his stride last season and say to themselves that there is, even more, to get out of him now that the Bengals started to un-tap some of his potentials.
2. Larry Ogunjobi must fix missed tackles
Larry Ogunjobi is not a perfect prospect, and one area where he is going to have to improve are his missed tackles. Last season, Larry Ogunjobi was tied for the most missed tackles in the NFL amongst defensive linemen, per PFF.
He also had the second-worst missed tackle rate of all defensive linemen with at least 200 run stops. This is notable and his biggest flaw that you can find on tape.
The thing is that this is his strength and weakness. Larry Ogubjobi is all about shooting gaps and using his flexibility to get under and round offensive lineman for plays in the backfield.
With that comes shooting and missing at times. It takes blind faith to jump the gun and try to get into the backfield as fast as he does, and it backfires. You could argue this is something the Bengals actually asked of him, similarly to changing where he aligned.
Missed tackles have always been a small issue for Ogunjobi but in his last four years, his missed tackle rate has gone 10%, 10%, 14%, 22%. Last season he was missing tackles at a much higher rate.
That could be because the Bengals stressed getting into the backfield and not worrying about the consequences. It may result in more misses, but also resulted in his career year, so the Bengals may have wanted the hits with the misses.
1. Low average depth of tackle
Larry Ogunjobi had a 1.9 average depth of tackle. That goes back to the idea that Ogunjobi is shooting gaps and looking to make tackles near the line of scrimmage. He may not be around downfield because he took himself out of the play, but when he connects, it is a tackle near the line or behind it.
This rating was 18th in the NFL, which is a strong rate amongst defensive linemen. Of those, only five had a higher run stop rate. That shows again that while he has his misses when he hits, he is creating stops.
In the three seasons prior to this Ogunjobi had an average depth of tackle at 2.2, 2.1, and 1.5 yards down the field. That shows that this is a consistent skill that he has, and it speaks to the style of player that the Chicago Bears are getting with him
Overall, this shows that the Chicago Bears’ defense will be different and they will be looking for different players. Ogunjobi moves around much more and is more impactful in the backfield. It has some drawbacks, but in any style of play, there are pros and cons. We are now getting a strong look into what Matt Eberflus wants from his defense with Larry Ogunjobi.