Yannick Ngakoue, defensive end, Jacksonville Jaguars
Ngakoue was one of the biggest surprises of last year’s rookie class. The University of Maryland product with a hard-to-pronounce name playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars posted eight sacks, second only to Joey Bosa among rookies, along with 14 quarterback hits, per NFL GSIS.
If Ngakoue can stay the course, Jacksonville’s defensive line has a chance to be terrifying after the addition of Calais Campbell in free agency. But his run defense could prevent that from happening.
The Jaguars tried to keep Ngakoue off the field on early, run-heavy downs last season. He only played 207 snaps of run defense according to Pro Football Focus and accrued a poor 32.7 run defense grade. It didn’t make much of a difference on so few snaps, however, and Ngakoue was able to claim a successful rookie campaign.
2016 DEs. This is why I think Yannick Ngakoue was actually a bit rubbish as a rookie. The sack total was misleading pic.twitter.com/3QK2yEk1pB
— T͓̽o͓̽m͓̽ ͓̽K͓̽i͓̽s͓̽l͓̽i͓̽n͓̽g͓̽b͓̽u͓̽r͓̽y͓̽ (@TomKislingbury) May 12, 2017
In his sophomore year, that will change. Tyson Alualu and Jared Odrick, both of whom helped on those run defense snaps, have left the team, Odrick in ugly fashion. Jacksonville doesn’t have the same depth at the edge position, even after drafting Dawuane Smoot in the third round and picking up Lerentee McCray in free agency. Naturally, this will force Ngakoue into more run defense snaps where he’s likely to struggle, especially since Jacksonville’s opponents will be going outside more often since Campbell and Malik Jackson are such good run defenders inside.