This productive pass rusher is still out there for the taking
Yannick Ngakoue’s tryout with Dolphins should get Rams attention
Yannick Ngakoue is only 29 but the free agent pass rusher with 69 career sacks, including 33.5 in the last three seasons with three different teams, has yet to sign with a team in 2024. That should change soon and the Los Angeles Rams should probably be aware of his asking price before letting him sign with any team, including the Miami Dolphins.
Ngakoue tried out with the Dolphins on Monday, as did Emmanuel Ogbah, and both could be off the market within hours.
It’s been a wild ride for Ngakoue, who was with the Jaguars in 2019, the Ravens and Vikings in 2020, the Raiders in 2021, the Colts in 2022, and the Bears in 2023. That’s an official count of six teams in five seasons, which by all accounts is about to be seven teams in six seasons. And that’s only going to stay at seven if Ngakoue stays with one team for the entire year. Who knows when the count will end, but Ngakoue remains an effective edge rusher in the NFL:
The Rams enter training camp with second-year players Byron Young, Nick Hampton, and Ochaun Mathis, rookies Jared Verse and Brennan Jackson, plus veterans Michael Hoecht and Nick VanValkenburg. As you should be able to guess, the Rams ranked 32nd in edge rusher spending, LESS THAN HALF the spending of the team in 31st place. Another edge rusher with an audition on Monday is Ogbah, who has spent the last four years with the Dolphins and had nine sacks in both 2020 and 2021.
It should be encouraging to Ngakoue that he could immediately be the first or second-best option on a team expected to compete for the NFC championship. The Rams could make it work financially, but do they see Ngakoue as a dependable player they can count on for an entire season? Ngakoue has long faced questions of being a liability in run defense and skeptics believe he only gets sacks in situations that aren’t very valuable.
And would he even be holding back the younger players on the team at the same position?
Six teams in five years. It’s a good sign that Ngakoue is always productive. Maybe a worse sign that despite his production, nobody wants to keep him.
