Tag: Germain Ifedi

Browns set to start fourth different left tackle vs. Steelers

Germain Ifedi will start at left tackle on Thursday Night

The Cleveland Browns will be starting veteran Germain Ifedi at left tackle against the Pittsburgh Steelers as Jedrick Wills has once again been ruled out.

This marks the fourth different starting left tackle for the Browns in 2024. First, it was James Hudson III who started the first few weeks, then Wills took over before getting hurt again. Dawand Jones then flipped from right tackle to left tackle when Jack Conklin returned when Wills was ruled out and took the job from the former first rounder before his season-ending injury. Even Joel Bitonio has played some reps at left tackle this season.

With Wills still out, the former first rounder Ifedi will get the start. For depth, the Browns brought back a familiar face in Geron Christian as the backup tackle due to all of the injuries up front.

Going against the potent Steelers’ pass rush, Ifedi will need all of the help he can get.

Browns lose two more offensive tackles to injury vs. Vikings

Cleveland Browns offensive tackles Germain Ifedi and Hakeem Adiniji have been ruled out of the preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings

Cleveland Browns lost two offensive tackles during a Minnesota Vikings’ interception return. Offensive tackles Hakeem Adeniji and Germain Ifedi exited the preseason game at the start of the third quarter. This came after they already lost James Hudson III to injury earlier in the game.

Adeniji suffered the injury while chasing a Vikings cornerback during an interception. Adeniji slipped near the sideline, but he walked to the locker room with the assistance of trainers. Adeniji replaced an injured James Hudson III earlier in the quarter.

Adeniji has been ruled out with a knee injury.

Ifedi was seen walking to the locker room with trainers after the play. Ifedi suffered a hand injury and he is ruled out for the game.

The Browns signed veterans Ifedi and Adeniji in the offseason to bolster their offensive tackle depth. The Browns entered the game without starting tackles Jedrick Wills Jr., and Jack Conklin. Both tackles are on the PUP list, but they’re expected to be elevated to the roster soon. The Browns need all the help they can get at the position after this slew of injuries has momentarily wiped out the team’s depth.

Browns sign former first round OL Germain Ifedi

The Browns have added another offensive lineman to their roster.

After a roster spot opened up along their offensive line after Justin Murray retired, the Cleveland Browns have now signed a former first round pick in Germain Ifedi.

While Ifedi’s career has not lived up to that of the first rounder that he was of the Seattle Seahawks back in the 2016 NFL draft, he has started a great deal of NFL games throughout his eight-year career.

Look for Ifedi to be a camp body on the 90-man roster during training camp, but he is a long shot to make the Browns roster as they look to get back in the playoffs again in 2024.

Bills re-sign Germain Ifedi to practice squad after his release

#Bills re-sign Germain Ifedi to practice squad after his release:

The Bills have brought Germain Ifedi back to the team right after letting him go.

On Thursday, Ifedi was released and eventually the team used his roster spot on defensive tackle DaQuan Jones–He has been activated from injured reserve after recovering from a pectoral injury.

At the same time the team announced Jones was added to the 53-man roster, the Bills (9-6) also announced the Ifedi was re-signed but to the practice squad instead. Making room for Ifedi was safety Tre Norwood who was released:

Norwood, 24, had not appeared in a game with the Bills. Ifedi has not either, but he was previously on the team’s 53-man roster but was a healthy scratch each game day in 2023.

Ifedi was a former first-round pick.

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Buffalo Bills release OL Germain Ifedi

#Bills release OL Germain Ifedi:

The Buffalo Bills have released offensive lineman Germain Ifedi.

The team announced the transaction on Thursday:

The 29-year-old signed with the Bills at the end of August. During his time in Buffalo, the former first-round pick was a healthy scratch for the entirety of the 2023 season.

The Bills likely released Ifedi in an effort to open a roster space. The sits at 52 players following the transaction.

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Bills expected to sign former first-round pick Germain Ifedi

#Bills expected to sign former first-round pick Germain Ifedi:

It’s been reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that the Buffalo Bills have added yet another addition to their offensive line rotation, and it’s a former first-round draft pick.

29-year-old OT Germain Ifedi, the 31st overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks, is joining the Bills’ front-line position group following his visit to the team’s facilities.

Ifedi will join a Bills squad that lost fellow draft class and similar PFF-graded Brandon Shell to retirement, Tommy Doyle to injury, and David Queensbury to roster cuts.

The veteran can provide depth at right tackle behind starter Spencer Brown, along with Alec Anderson, and also can play at the offensive guard position. Brown has struggled at times since a 2021 back injury that hampered his 2022 campaign as well. Brown’s missed time during that stretch and his training camp hasn’t been his strongest either.  Ifedi offers veteran starting experience and can help share the load at multiple line positions.

While the veteran has yet to play to the potential of his first-round selection caliber at the pro level, the Bills do have an emphasis on player development that could benefit him. He also has strong physical assets and athletic capabilities that could be unlocked in Buffalo as well.

The signing is also another chess move addition in terms of rotation flexibility, as Ifedi allows Ryan Van Demark to backup Dion Dawkins and Anderson the ability to backup multiple spots, creating the type of versatility Buffalo’s looked for in the linemen they’ve brought in.

In his career, Ifedi has started 83 contests in 102 games he’s appeared in. After playing with Seattle until 2019 he joined the Chicago Bears for two seasons before spending one with the Atlanta Falcons. The offensive tackle was with the Detroit Lions this offseason before the team released him.

While the signing comes after a visit to One Bills Drive, they may have seen film of him playing ahead of previous matchups against his former teams.

Buffalo’s front office continues to remain active in shaping the roster.

The team just made cuts and traded defensive end Boogie Basham to the Giants, with the former second-round pick netting an underwhelming asset return in the deal that GM Brandon Beane may likely aim to use to turn into something more meaningful in a future deal or draft.

There could even be more additions on the way, as outside linebacker Von Miller is set to miss the first four games of the season on the PUP list, and the inside linebacker position battle has been an area of weakness. Meanwhile, a number of linebackers parted ways with their respective teams this week.

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Waived vs. released: What’s the difference for NFL players and teams?

Explaining the difference for NFL players being waived vs. being released and what it means for the teams

As NFL teams furiously make their roster cutdowns in advance of the 53-man deadline, there are a couple of different terms used when a team severs ties with a player.

Some players are “released” while others are “waived.” And while the net effect on the active roster is the same, they do have different effects on the players themselves.

It’s a pretty simple distinction between being waived and being released.

Players with at least four accrued NFL seasons of service time are released. They’re vested veterans. When a player gets released, it’s the end of his contract. He becomes free to sign with any other team and the Lions have nothing to do with any compensation (other than any dead cap room) any longer. That’s what happened with vet OL Germain Ifedi, who has been in the NFL since 2016.

For players with less than four seasons of service time, they are waived. Players who are waived are subject to waiver wire claims. Right now, the waiver claim order is based on the draft order (before any trades) from April, so the Chicago Bears have the first claim. All teams file claims at the same period, and the team with the highest waiver wire position gets both the player and his existing contract. Detroit sits 18th in the waiver wire order, so they will only be successful in making a claim if the 17 teams above them all fail to place a waiver claim on the player.

The waived players include anyone still on a rookie contract. A broader way of looking at it ties into free agency. Any player who is not eligible for unrestricted free agent status entering the year is subject to waiver claims.

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Lions latest wave of roster cuts includes several offensive linemen

Lions latest wave of roster cuts includes several offensive linemen and some expected moves

The quest to get from 90 to just 53 players is progressing quickly for GM Brad Holmes and the Detroit Lions. On Sunday, the Lions announced several cuts.

Some of them were already known, like C Alex Mollette and DL Christian Covington. Mollette was joined on the roster cutdown line by a few fellow offensive linemen.

The Lions released vets Bobby Hart and Germain Ifedi, and also waived tackle Obinna Eze and guard Darrin Paulo, as well as confirming the Mollette move. Ifedi’s release is something of a surprise, as the experienced journeyman had looked better than Matt Nelson during the preseason. These moves appear to ensure that Nelson makes the 53-man roster as the top reserve tackle.

The Lions also released RB Devine Ozigbo and WR Jason Moore. Players who are vested veterans are released and not subject to waivers.

Other players waived, and thus subject to waiver claims on Wednesday:

WR Trinity Benson

WR Avery Davis

TE Daniel Helm

S Scott Nelson

CB Colby Richardson

None of those waivers are unexpected. Benson was the best-known of the group, but he was outplayed by undrafted rookies Chase Cota and Dylan Drummond in the battle for the final roster spot(s).

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Updating the Lions camp battle for the No. 3 offensive tackle

The Lions starting OTs are fantastic, but the depth behind them is emerging as a real issue in training camp

The Lions have arguably the best starting offensive tackle tandems in the NFL in Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell. After that dynamic duo, the Detroit depth chart at offensive tackle is discouraging.

Head coach Dan Campbell and offensive line coach Hank Fraley are searching for someone, anyone, to step up and seize the No. 3 OT job. Holdover Matt Nelson, veteran newcomer Germain Ifedi and a crew of unproven, undrafted youngsters are all battling to win the job. Through the first weeks of training camp, nobody has won the swing tackle position.

“Well, I would say right now it’s open,” Campbell said before Wednesday’s joint practice with Jacksonville. “It’s open, and those guys knew that coming in here, and I think that Nelson and Ifedi are just going back and forth. I thought Nelson’s had a pretty good camp, but I think Ifedi played pretty good in this game last week, and he’s played a lot in this league.”

On Wednesday, Ifedi was the second-team left tackle and fared relatively well in team drills. Just as he did in the preseason win over the Giants, the veteran Ifedi didn’t lose reps even if he didn’t win many, either. That should give him an advantage over Nelson, who has kicked to right tackle with the second team.

Nelson has shown he can win reps, notably in the run game. He had a couple of those in the joint practice against the Jags. But he also loses reps a lot more frequently than his competition, something we all saw on the very first play of the preseason. Nelson’s slow footwork and poor recovery athleticism have been a problem all summer, and that appears to have given Ifedi the edge in playing the more critical left tackle.

Campbell also brought up second-year tackle Obinna Eze, who has shown some progress in camp.

“Eze’s really come a long way, there again it’s just about the consistency and getting reps and playing. So, I think it’s very much open, it’s open and they’re competing for that spot,” Campbell concluded.

Eze was an undrafted rookie a year ago who didn’t look NFL-ready. This year, the Lions have two such UDFAs in Ryan Swoboda and Connor Galvin. It’s not that Galvin or Swoboda have been egregiously bad while working with the deep reserves, but neither has stood out as someone who looks upwardly mobile on the depth chart in 2023.

Fifth-round rookie Colby Sorsdal, a college tackle at William & Mary, has worked exclusively at guard since training camp ramped up. Recently signed vet Bobby Hart has only lined up at guard since joining the Lions, too. That is not expected to change for Sorsdal — who has shown promise in his positional transition — or Hart. Vet Darrin Paulo works more inside as well, while international program player Max Pircher hasn’t separated himself from the 6-foot-9 Swoboda at the bottom of the depth chart.

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10 Lions to watch closely in the preseason opener vs. the Giants

It’s going to be a big night for several Lions, including these 10 Detroit players

The Detroit Lions host the New York Giants in the 2023 preseason opener for both teams. After two days of joint practices in Allen Park, the teams take their action to Ford Field for the kickoff of exhibition season.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell refused to indicate if the regular, established starters would play. Even if they do, it’s almost certainly on a very limited basis; the preseason isn’t about the starters.

It’s about the reserves and the position battles and the rookies getting their first taste of NFL action. Here are 10 Lions who wear at least one of those hats who will be important players to focus upon against the Giants.