Chicago Bears: 3 Players who need to finally step up in 2021

2. Joel Iyiegbuniwe, Inside Linebacker

Joel Iyiegbuniwe was another Chicago Bears fourth-round pick. The team picked him up in 2018. The Bears liked his athleticism and speed. However, he hasn’t been the player the team hoped for when they drafted him.

Iyiegbuniwe has played in 47 or a possible 48 games in his career, but it’s mostly been on special teams. He’s been in on 990 special teams snaps, or about 76 percent of the total snaps. On defense, however, he’s only been in on 49 total defensive snaps, or about one percent of the total.

This season Iyiegbuniwe has a chance to finally step up. He’ll battle Josh Woods for one of the backup inside linebacker jobs. He is in the final year of his rookie contract so if he wants to earn a new one he needs to step up now. Christian Jones will be the other backup but he’ll also play some on the outside.

It is time for Iyiegbuniwe to show what he has. If he cannot show some improvement during camp, he’ll end up being just a special teams contributor. That ends up with him signing a lot of one-year deals worth just above the minimum. If he is a contributor on defense, he can receive other multi-year contracts worth a lot more.