Before the 2019 season, the Packers realized that they needed more of a pass rush than they had. General manager Brian Gutekunst and his staff went hard at the problem in free agency, signing Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith to impressive deals. The Smith “brothers” provided appropriate value on the field, totaling 29.5 sacks and 167 total pressures between them, including the postseason. This was one fundamental reason the Packers were able to transcend their 6-9-1 record in 2018, and turn things around to the tune of a 13-3 mark and a trip to the NFC Championship game last season.
The Vikings, Green Bay’s primary challenger in the NFC North, had no such pass-rush issues to deal with in 2019 — Danielle Hunter has back-to-back 14.5-sack seasons and only Za’Darius Smith and San Francisco’s Nick Bosa had more total pressures in 2019 than Hunter’s 97. But after veteran bookend Everson Griffen voided the final three years of his deal and wound up signing with the Cowboys, that left a blank space in a front four that needs to ramp up its quarterback pressures on Hunter’s other side.
Enter former Jaguars pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, traded from his former team on Sunday morning in a move that seemed inevitable, given Ngakoue’s dissatisfaction with Jacksonville’s overall direction. Last season, Ngakoue was limited in his overall effectiveness with a hamstring injury, but he still put up eight sacks and 51 total pressures. The Vikings are obviously hoping for the version of Ngakoue that had 13 sacks, seven forced fumbles and 82 total pressures in 2017, but they’d probably settle for the guy who had 9.5 sacks and 64 total pressures in 2018.
Aligning himself with Hunter should provide a bump in production for Ngakoue — just as the dueling Smiths presented difficult math problems when it was time to figure out who to block against Green Bay’s defense, Hunter and Ngakoue will be nightmares for any offensive tackle trying to handle with with single-teams.
While Hunter blows opponents away with outstanding speed and improving technique, Ngakoue adds a devastating combination of quickness off the ball and some of the best snap-to-whistle effort pressures you’ll see.
This first came to my attention with this takedown of Andrew Luck in 2018.
Here's @YannickNgakoue with what may be the best effort sack of 2018. Pay that dude. pic.twitter.com/SjFql0Unl3
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) June 14, 2019
Fast-forward to Week 15 of the 2019 season against the Raiders, and here’s Ngakoue doing a similar thing, pinballing his way through multiple blocks. If you don’t finish Ngakoue through the entire rep, he will be a constant thorn in your side.
Yannick Ngakoue brings maximum effort throughout the snap. Here, he sure plays a mean pinball against several confused Raiders. pic.twitter.com/pcgWduKHR3
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 30, 2020
And when it comes to quickness and acceleration? Against the Jets in Week 8, Ngakoue re-confirmed what has already been made apparent — you have no margin for error, or slowness off the snap, against this guy.
The other thing that makes Yannick Ngakoue a top-flight edge-rusher is his speed off the snap. If you're half a step late out of your stance, it's party time. Here, Chuma Edoga of the Jets finds that out the hard way. pic.twitter.com/Luh4RcMh8h
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 30, 2020
Can the combination of Ngakoue and Hunter do for the Vikings what the Smith signings did for the Packers? In an era when many teams are aligning with the idea that coverage is more important than pressure, Minnesota is making its pass rush as formidable as possible as the team tries to succeed with a completely revamped cornerback group. It’s an older-school approach that may work because the Vikings also have one of the two or three best linebackers in the game in Eric Kendricks, and the league’s best safety tandem in Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris.
If Yannick Ngakoue is able to bring to the Vikings what he brought to the Jaguars at his best, it would be foolish to count this defense out — and it will be a whole series of headaches for NFC North quarterbacks.