Indianapolis Colts defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (91) talks with IndyStar on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, after training camp at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. © Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK.
The man has sure encountered an NFL odyssey.
Yannick Ngakoue is once again available to all NFL teams, cut loose by the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday. Baltimore may re-sign the pass rusher to its practice squad, but every other club has the chance to scoop Ngakoue.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted Thursday, “Ravens are waiving DE Yannick Ngakoue, per source. The Ravens want to re-sign him to their practice squad should he clear waivers.”
Schefter also clarified, “Waiving Yannick Ngakoue clears up a roster spot that the Ravens now can use on RB Keaton Mitchell, who could make his 2024 season debut tonight after recovering from last season’s knee injury.”
The NFL’s trade deadline just wrapped up Tuesday, and contending teams love adding veteran pass-rushing talent. It wouldn’t be weird at all for a team with a winning record to grab Ngakoue and cancel the Raven’s PS plan.
These are the Ravens’ outside linebackers without Ngakoue:
Ngakoue has served as a year-by-year pass-rushing mercenary for hire since his 2020 Vikings stop. Here’s his NFL resume to date:
On August 30th, 2020, Yannick Ngakoue was dealt to the Vikings early on a Sunday morning for a 2nd-Round pick in 2021 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2022. Ngakoue was at a contractual impasse with the Jaguars at the time, a team in full sell-off mode after reaching the AFC Championship in 2017. The Vikings seized the bait and sought to employ a duo of EDGE rushers that would inspire nightmares, featuring Ngakoue and Danielle Hunter. The combo turned out to be Ngakoue and Ifeadi Odenigbo, not Ngakoue and Hunter.
The Vikings’ 2020 pass rush was miserable — the worst in the NFL, in fact. The pass rusher was then traded to these very Ravens in what felt like the beginning of a fire sale as the Vikings stood at 1-5 entering the 2020 bye week. The fire sale never extended beyond Ngakoue, but Minnesota emphatically threw in the towel on the high hopes for its 2020 pass rush. Instead, Odenigbo received more playing time, providing the coaching staff with intel that he was not a long-term starting asset on the defensive line. He was released in 2021.
Ngakoue played about 600 defensive snaps in 2023 for the Bears and earned a miserable 39.9 Pro Football Focus grade. He improved this season, though, logging 87 defensive snaps, a 61.4 PFF grade, and 7 quarterback pressures, along with 2 sacks.
The Ravens are third in line to win the Super Bowl, according to oddsmakers, with a +650 moneyline.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.