A Nigerian-born player in USA’s National Football League (NFL), Joel Iyiegbuniwe, who plays for Chicago Bears, has received heavy permutations about his chances of excelling this season in the turbo-charged running sport with balls, helmets and shoulder pads, megasportsarena.com reports.
Iyiegbuniwe is against set to roll out with The Bears, whose quality and depth of players at the inside linebacker position was cited as a critical factor in their ability to stay afloat in 2019; while Nick Kwiatkoski’s impressive play off the bench, for both Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan, resulted in a big payday from The Raiders in free agency.
With Kwiatkoski now traded, Iyiegbuniwe has been tipped to step up with the Chicago-based NFL franchise, whose search for an ideal replacement has been cut down to the 2018 fourth-round pick.
However, it will be a huge leap of faith by The Bears, considering that Iyiegbuniwe has played just 27 snaps on defense over the last two seasons, including a whopping three in 2019, and his statistics provided by Pro Football Focus are shallow, despite his strong college tape as a rangy linebacker who packs a punch.
Born October 12, 1995, Joel Iyiegbuniwe played college football at Western Kentucky University, before which he attended South Warren High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky and, though as a senior he only played in four games, he tallied 23 tackles and one interception along with six touchdowns.
As a junior, he made 64 tackles with three interceptions along with four touchdowns, following which he committed to play for Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in December 2013, choosing them over Indiana State and Southern Illinois.
As a true freshman in 2014, Iyiegbuniwe played in the first three games of Western Kentucky’s season, before a knee injury ended his season, but he was still elected to take a medical redshirt in 2015 and, as a redshirt freshman, he played in all of their 14 games, recording 19 tackles and one sack.
In 2016, Iyiegbuniwe, now a redshirt sophomore, once again appeared in all 14 games, during which he made 64 tackles (10 for loss), 3.5 sacks, three pass deflections and one forced fumble, which led to him being awarded 2016 C-USA Honorable Mention.
As a redshirt junior in 2017, Iyiegbuniwe played in all 13 games, recording 117 tackles (11.5 for loss), two sacks, one pass deflection and three forced fumbles, for which he was named to the 2017 C-USA First Team.
After the season, he declared his decision to turn professional and was drafted by Chicago Bears in the fourth round (115th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft by the team that appears to trust in his ability for the new season, as they have not added an inside linebacker during free agency for the 2020 NFL draft.
Iyiegbuniwe will, however, share that role with Josh Woods, as well as Barkevious Mingo to a less significant extent, as it is the Nigerians-born lad that observers believe has the right fit on the edge, with the golden chance of now logging a few snaps inside at this point in his career.
A technical citation noted: “The Bears’ depth will be tested this season, especially with the unpredictability of COVID-19. Backups will be more important than they probably ever have been, which is why a player like Iyiegbuniwe has to rise to the occasion and give the Bears another talented and ascending option at linebacker.”
