The Baltimore Ravens are reuniting with an old friend as the team is signing veteran edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue to their 2024 squad, according to ESPN.
Ngakoue, 29, last suited up for the Ravens in the 2020 season after coming over in a midseason trade from the Minnesota Vikings. He totaled three sacks and 26 quarterback pressures in nine games that season. His 69 career sacks are tied for the ninth most in the NFL with Joey Bosa since entering the league as a third-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ngakoue has played for six teams in his now-nine-year NFL career, suiting up with the Jaguars (2016-2019), the Vikings (2020), the Ravens (2020), the Raiders (2021), the Colts (2022) and the Bears (2023). He suffered a broken ankle that caused him to miss the final four games of his 2023 season in Chicago, which led to him finishing with a career-low four sacks last season.
Ngakoue has an established reputation as a pass rush expert, totaling at least eight sacks in each of his first seven NFL seasons. That puts him in a club with three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald (2015-2020) and three Hall of Famers -- DeMarcus Ware (2005-2011), Derrick Thomas (1989-1995) and Reggie White (1985-1991) -- as the only players to accomplish that feat in their first seven seasons since sacks became an individual stat in 1982.
Baltimore is making this move in the hopes that it will increase the consistency of its pass rush after a 1-2 start to 2024. Yes, the Ravens' 10 sacks as a team are the ninth most in the league through three games, but their team quarterback pressure of 27.1% is the fourth worst in the NFL entering the "Monday Night Football" doubleheader in Week 3.