Chicago Bears fourth round pick Joel Iyiegbuniwe is quite a story. His dream is to become a doctor once his football career is over. He also might be the most controversial draft pick the team made in 2018. Not so much due to his talent but more due to the fact nobody knew who he was and he was taken at a position the Bears had already addressed in the first round.
People don’t like two things. They don’t like mysteries and they don’t like not getting their way. Bears fans had their hearts set on an edge rusher when the team went on the clock in the fourth round. When Iyiegbuniwe had his name announced there was a mix of confusion and rage. This before people bothered to learn about the player they got.
Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune intended to correct that problem. In doing so he got a chance to talk with Iyiegbuniwe’s position coach at Western Kentucky, Maurice Crum Jr. They talked about several topics: who “Iggy” is as a person, his future prospects, how he can help the team on specials and so on. It was then over the course of the conversation that Crum drop a surprising bombshell.
2017 was the first time Joel Iyiegbuniwe ever played inside linebacker
“It’s just going to be continued growth. Again, he has only played inside linebacker for one year, so I think he has to continue to grow and see teams. That’s what he has in front of him. He’ll work his tail off to get it, and I know he’ll get it.”
That’s right. The Bears took the kid in the fourth round, over all the edge rush possibilities despite having just one year of experience at inside linebacker. Was his initial impression that effective? One merely has to look at the stats. In 2016, as an outside linebacker, he had 64 tackles. Last year once moved to the inside he had 117. Crum explained how he became so effective with that shift.
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“Because of his ability to run it’s going to be hard for a lot of people to beat him to the sideline, but he’s big enough and strong enough to where he can go up in there and take on guards and tackles and be physical on the inside. You want him close so he can stay around the football.”
This is backed up by the tape. Iyiegbuniwe just seems to have a natural gift for the position. If he was able to be that productive in his first year ever playing it? Just imagine what he might be able to do once he starts adding experience.
