The Chicago Bears pass rush finally got the boost it needed on Thursday evening thanks to the signing of free agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. The 28-year old pass rusher signed a one-year deal worth $10.5 million and instantly upgrades the team’s front seven after they struggled mightily to put pressure on the quarterback in 2022.
Ngakoue is entering his seventh season in the league and has bounced around quite a bit the last few years. Following a strong start to his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ngakoue spent time with the Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, and most recently with the Indianapolis Colts. He totaled 29 total tackles (eight for a loss), 9.5 sacks and one forced fumble during his lone season in Indy.
Now Ngakoue comes to the Bears as a reinforcement to upgrade their pass rush, which was abysmal last season. The Bears only sacked the quarterback 20 times in 2022 and 6.5 of those sacks came from the defensive end position via Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. Ngakoue essentially would have accounted for half of all the Bears sacks last season.
The signing felt inevitable, but was still a welcome one nevertheless. Here is our initial grade of the deal.
Contract details
- One-year, $10.5 million ($10 million guaranteed)
Initial grade: A
Unless Ngakoue causes Halas Hall to burn to the ground somehow, there is very little, if any, downside to this signing. The Bears had money to spend and were leading the league in available cap space prior to the deal. The writing was one the wall that they would find a way to upgrade the position. The question was whether it was going to be through free agency with Ngakoue or someone like Justin Houston, or via trade.
Ngakoue isn’t a complete defensive end like some of the other top players at his position. He can’t defend against the run and will likely only be used in obvious passing downs. But when you’re the Bears and rushing the passer was one of the worst facets of the team last year, you take what you can get. And what they got was a player who can consistently generate pressure on the quarterback.
Since he was drafted back in 2016, Ngakoue has 65 total sacks and 21 forced fumbles. His sack totals are the seventh-most in the NFL while his forced fumbles are fifth-most. He’s never had a season with less than eight sacks and has missed just four games in his career. He does one job but he does it well.
As far as the contract goes, there’s really not much to complain about. Ngakoue gets a fair deal at $10 million guaranteed, which is on par with someone like Sam Hubbard of the Cincinnati Bengals based on money per year. But Ngakoue’s deal is just for this season. If things don’t work out, he moves on and the Bears don’t owe him anything in 2024 or beyond.
Finally, no educated Bears fan would compare this signing to the blockbuster trade that brought star pass rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago in 2018. Mack was/is the total package and can do it all at on the defensive line. Ngakoue can’t. But taking a look at strictly their passing numbers from Mack’s 2017 season (the season prior to him coming to the Bears) and Ngakoue’s 2022 campaign and they’re more similar than you might think.
In 16 games that season, Mack had 10.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and 15 tackles for loss. In 15 games last year, Ngakoue had 9.5 sacks with one forced fumble and eight tackles for loss. From a pure pass rush standpoint, there isn’t that much of a dropoff. Now consider the Bears didn’t trade multiple first-round picks for Ngakoue and turn around to pay him one of the richest extensions for a pass rusher in NFL history. All it cost them was $10.5 million. That sounds like good business.
All in all, the signing was a low-risk move with the potential to be huge as the season gets underway. It won’t fix everything as the Bears still have a questionable run defense, but this was a smart and needed signing.
