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).
One of the most difficult players to watch in seattle…
Every time I hear his name, I still see a yellow flag fly
Super Bowl, here come the Bears.
This stupid team…
This makes us contenders right now….haha oh I wish.
Here’s your replacement for Massie.
The line was actually very good once he moved back to RT and they placed the kids from Norte Dame at center and guard.
They still need to look for an upgrade, but this isn’t a horrible signing.
I agree at worst he will be a decent tackle at best he provides a good backup at guard or tackle.
What a failure of an organization. Totally misspent budget, resulting in no salary cap to purchase any free agent of consequence. The rest of the league is excitingly adding impact players to their teams and the Bears sign another backup quarterback. It’s extremely disappointing and hard to get excited for the coming year. I’ll save some money by not purchasing Sunday Ticket. I’m tired of watching this team’s failures.