HEADLINES

Germain Ifedi

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/20/21

December 20th, 2021 at 8:15am CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

  • Promoted: OL Jacob Capra

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

Washington Football Team

  • Promoted: OT Sam Cosmi

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/16/21

December 16th, 2021 at 8:13am CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

  • Placed on IR: LB Ronnie Perkins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: G Wes Martin
  • Promoted: WR Pharoh Cooper

New York Jets

Washington Football Team

Bears Place OL Germain Ifedi On IR

October 13th, 2021 at 12:07pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bears will be without one of their offensive line starters going forward. They moved Germain Ifedi to IR, knocking the veteran blocker out for at least three games.

A knee injury sustained late in the first half Sunday sidelined Ifedi, moving Elijah Wilkinson into Chicago’s lineup. That arrangement will likely continue beginning Sunday. Ifedi is not expected to miss the rest of the season, per Matt Nagy. The Bears also placed outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu on IR. Attaochu suffered a torn pec, which will end his season.

Ifedi has started all 21 games he has played for the Bears. The former first-round pick came over after an underwhelming Seahawks tenure, but the Texas A&M product has proven dependable in Chicago. Ifedi slid to guard last season, but after the Bears released Bobby Massie this offseason, Ifedi moved back to the right tackle spot he played in Seattle. The Bears’ upcoming stretch — against the Packers, 49ers and Buccaneers — stands to test Ifedi’s replacement.

Wilkinson signed with the Bears this offseason but could not win the starting right tackle job out of camp. The Bears are already without their preferred left tackle, rookie Teven Jenkins, but the team does roster Jason Peters on the left side. Wilkinson did serve as a plug-and-play option in Denver, being the Broncos’ primary right tackle in 2019 and adding seven more starts to his resume in place of the oft-absent Ja’Wuan James last season.

NFL Distributes Performance-Based Payouts

April 10th, 2021 at 4:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Since 2002, the NFL’s performance-based pay system has rewarded low-salary players who exceed their expected playing time. This year, due to the pandemic, the league and the players’ union negotiated a gradual payout schedule, one that will meter out the money between now and 2024.

All in all, the league divested $8.5MM per club. This year’s top earner is Buccaneers guard Alex Cappa, a 2018 third-round pick who played every single snap for the eventual champs. Cappa will now receive an extra $622K on top of his $750K base salary for 2021. Per the union’s records, 25 other players also topped $500K, including Cardinals tackle Kelvin Beachum ($604K), Bills cornerback Taron Johnson ($579K), Rams guard Austin Corbett ($573K), Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye ($572K), Bears tackle Germain Ifedi ($571K), Steelers offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor ($568K), Vikings offensive lineman Dakota Dozier ($561K), Ravens safety DeShon Elliott ($557K) and Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead ($555K).

The full list, going team-by-team, can be found here, courtesy of the NFLPA.

Bears To Re-Sign OL Germain Ifedi

March 16th, 2021 at 7:51pm CST by Rory Parks

It sounds like the Bears’ pursuit of Trent Williams will not result in a deal, but the club is bringing back one of its own offensive linemen. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Chicago is re-signing Germain Ifedi to a one-year deal worth up to $5MM (Twitter link). Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that $4.25MM of that amount will be in the form of base salary.

This represents a nice raise for Ifedi, who signed a veteran salary benefit contract with the Bears last offseason. After serving as a guard during his rookie season in Seattle in 2016, the former first-round pick kicked out to right tackle for the 2017-19 seasons. Chicago moved him back into the interior of the line, and he performed reasonably well, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 35th-best guard in the league (out of 80 qualifiers).

He also played better towards the end of the season, which certainly played a part in his pay bump. But after making a failed push for Williams and Russell Wilson, the Ifedi re-up is not likely to get the juices flowing for Bears fans.

The 26-year-old Texas A&M product will be blocking for Nick Foles, the newly-acquired Andy Dalton, or a rookie passer (or maybe all three).

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/6/20

November 6th, 2020 at 4:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Friday’s minor moves:

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/3/20

November 3rd, 2020 at 6:12pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor NFL transactions:

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

NFC Notes: Slay, Hurts, Cowboys, Bears

April 4th, 2020 at 6:19pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Eagles were eyeing Darius Slay for a long time. In March, they finally got him for the cost of a third-round pick, a fifth-round pick, and a brand new three-year, $50MM deal. We heard all the way back in January that upgrading the secondary was a priority for Philly, and it looks like they could change their style of play a bit on defense. The Eagles traditionally play strictly zone under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, without a number one corner shadowing the opponent’s top receiver. Slay apparently wants to change that. “I love the challenge,” Slay said of shadowing during his introductory press call, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

“I kind of ask for it a lot because the fact that I want the game on me, and I want to help win the game, and if the best route to go about it is me traveling with a guy, then I’ll do it,” he continued. “I’ve been doing it the past four or five years,” the former Lion explained, “and I’ve been very, very successful at it. If they need me to continue to do it, that’s what I’ll continue to do.” Most observers seemed to agree that the Mississippi State product’s play dropped off a little bit last season as he dealt with injury, but the Eagles’ new top corner rejected that assertion. “I had a great year, in my opinion,” Slay said of 2019. “I think I played freaking fantastic. … It was dang sure good enough to make a Pro Bowl third season in a row.”

Here’s more from the NFC:

  • The Cowboys are still waiting to close an extension with starting quarterback Dak Prescott, and while those negotiations continue they’re apparently taking a look at some of the quarterbacks in this year’s draft class. Dallas owner Jerry Jones conducted a video interview with Oklahoma passer Jalen Hurts, via a post on the team’s Instagram page. The Cowboys’ post offers a cool behind the scenes look at what the pre-draft process is looking like for teams in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hurts is expected by many analysts to go off the board sometime in the second or third-round, which would be pretty early for the Cowboys to be taking a backup. If they do end up picking Hurts and still don’t have a deal done with Prescott, that would certainly raise a lot of eyebrows.
  • Yesterday we passed along word that the Bears were planning on using free agent acquisition Germain Ifedi at guard, and now we have the details on his contract. Ifedi got a $137.5K signing bonus and a $910K base salary on his one-year deal, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. We figured Ifedi didn’t get too much, but this is still pretty cheap for a 25-year-old with versatility who has started 60 games the past four seasons. A first-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2016, Ifedi became a full-time starter but always underwhelmed and never lived up to his draft status. He played both tackle and guard extensively for Seattle.
  • In case you missed it, the Seahawks may only be willing to pay between $13-15MM for Jadeveon Clowney.

NFC Notes: Foles, Trubisky, Bears, Ifedi, Lewis, Giants

April 3rd, 2020 at 5:12pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We heard earlier today that the Bears were planning an open quarterback competition between Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky, but that might not be entirely accurate. Both general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy insisted during a teleconference with the media that it would be a fair battle and even that Trubisky would take the first snaps whenever they hit the field for their first practices, but Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune is skeptical.

Trubisky is the incumbent and is being treated as such for now, but Biggs thinks the team is just paying lip-service to the former number two overall pick. “Short of the 31-year-old falling on his face or being injured,” it’s Foles’ job to lose, Biggs writes. It makes sense why Pace doesn’t want to admit defeat with Trubisky, considering he traded up to draft him so early in 2017. Biggs writes that it’s the inverse of the situation the Bears had in 2017, when Mike Glennon was technically the starter but everyone knew Trubisky would be taking over sooner rather than later. As of right now, Foles looks like a heavy favorite to be under center Week 1.

Here’s more from the NFC:

  • Speaking of the Bears, one big move they made this offseason was signing offensive lineman Germain Ifedi away from the Seahawks. The 2016 first-round pick played both tackle and guard extensively during his time in Seattle, and Chicago is planning to play him in side at guard Pace said, via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Ifedi was a full-time starter the past few years with the Seahawks, but never lived up to his draft status.
  • Running back Dion Lewis agreed to sign with the Giants back on March 23rd, and now we’ve got the details. New York got a pretty good deal, as Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com tweets that Lewis received a one-year deal worth $1.55MM with nothing guaranteed. New Giants coach Joe Judge was with Lewis during their time with the Patriots. Lewis turns 30 in September but doesn’t have too much tread on his tires since he’s never been a workhorse back. Lewis signed a four-year, $20MM deal with the Titans in 2018, but lasted only two years in Tennessee after Derrick Henry emerged as the undisputed featured back. He should backup Saquon Barkley in 2020.
  • In case you missed it the Lions are likely looking to trade down from the third overall pick, and they could have their eye on Ohio State corner Jeff Okudah.

Bears To Sign OL Germain Ifedi

March 25th, 2020 at 4:25pm CST by Rory Parks

The Bears and offensive lineman Germain Ifedi are in agreement on a one-year contract, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Financial details are not yet known, but it is likely not a high-dollar deal.

The Seahawks drafted Ifedi in the first round of the 2016 draft, and though he has been a full-time starter since his rookie campaign, he has never lived up to that billing. Seattle declined his fifth-year option last May, and his play did not improve enough to make the team regret that decision.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll did express interest in bringing Ifedi back, but no reports of negotiations between the two sides ever surfaced. Instead, the Texas A&M product will attempt to rebuild his value with the Bears.

Rapoport says that the Bears — who have Bobby Massie penciled in at right tackle — could give Ifedi a shot at guard. He played guard in his rookie season in Seattle before kicking out to RT.

Chicago’s O-line was one of the worst in the league in 2019, but Ifedi represents the lone free agent addition the club has made to that unit thus far.

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