It was announced early Sunday morning that the Vikings traded for former Jacksonville Jaguar Yannick Ngakoue. That trade has since been made official, with the Vikings trading away a 2021 second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2022.
The Vikings got the pass rushing help that they so desperately needed and still have some young talent at the position. Ifeadi Odenigbo and D.J. Wonnum are two pieces that Andre Patterson could eventually turn into three-down starters.
Since entering the league in 2016, Ngakoue has totaled 122 tackles since entering the league. 42 of those tackles were for loss and has 37.5 sacks during that time frame.
The addition of a Pro Bowl pass rusher should help the Vikings on all three phases of their defense. The cornerback position is extremely young and getting a good pass rush up front will help ease the transition into the NFL.
This has already had salary cap implications with the news of Riley Reiff potentially being cut on Tuesday, but clearly the Vikings front office thought the deal was too good to pass up. This could also mean the Vikings have faith in some of their younger offensive lineman such as Oli Udoh getting some reps at right tackle.
The Vikings have historically had a great pass rush year over year and that doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. The combination of Ngakoue and Danielle Hunter should be lethal, with each of them still under the age of 26.