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In the evening hours of the first day of voluntary OTA’s for the Detroit Lions, it was announced that they signed veteran offensive lineman Germain Ifedi. It’s unclear on the structure of his contract but I would assume it’s a veteran minimum deal for one-year.
Oddly enough, this signing comes from the Lions after their first few hours of potentially seeing veteran right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai. I’m unsure if Vaitai participated or showed up for the voluntary OTA’s in Detroit. However, we do know that he’s been dealing with a back injury for most of his tenure with the Lions. The signing of Ifedi could be insurance if Vaitai can’t play.
Throughout much of this off-season, the Lions have made it a point to upgrade their offensive line. This off-season the Lions re-signed Matt Nelson, signed Graham Glasgow and drafted Colby Sorsdal in the 5th round of the 2023 NFL Draft. They now add Ifedi, who could be just a camp body or like I said, he could be insurance to Vaitai and his injury woes.
For Ifedi, this is his 4th team in the NFL and he’ll certainly look to play more than the 8 total snaps he played for Atlanta last season. Prior to playing with the Falcons, Ifedi played over 1400 snaps with the Chicago Bears over his two seasons with the team. His second season with the Bears was partially spent on injured reserve due to a sprained knee.
All of this occurred after he spent four seasons as a starter with the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks selected him with the 31st overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Over the course of his career, Ifedi has played over 3900 snaps (per PFF) at right tackle and over 1500 snaps at right guard. If healthy, he’ll provide Detroit with some guard and tackle flexibility.
Veteran OL Germain Ifedi is signing with the #Lions, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 23, 2023