Minnesota Vikings: 3 Players that need to step up in Danielle Hunter’s absence
2. Yannick Ngakoue
A player that will be looked upon to acclimate to his new team quickly and help lift the Vikings defensive line during the 2020 season will be newcomer Yannick Ngakoue.
In somewhat of a surprise move, Minnesota went out and traded for the defensive end with less than two weeks to go until the season-opening game on Sunday against Green Bay. Ngakoue joins a Vikings defense that will look to continue their success from 2019 and even before that right away in the new year.
The addition of a Pro Bowl talent like Ngakoue immediately boosts the defensive line in Minnesota, this coming after an offseason where the Vikings saw a handful of notable players depart via free agency. It also bumps the Vikings defense back to an elite level, even without Danielle Hunter for at least the next three weeks.
Andre Patterson said Yannick Ngakoue has been "been better than I’ve ever dreamed" and lauded the pass rusher for putting in the hours to get up to speed in the Vikings' defense where he'll play a different role at DE than he did in Jacksonville.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) September 10, 2020
Ngakoue joins the front line of Minnesota’s defense while replacing Everson Griffen, who signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent this offseason. Ngakoue will be a scary duo to pair with Hunter on the other end of the defensive line for the purple and gold, assuming Hunter is able to return in somewhat of a speedy fashion.
Ngakoue, who turned 25 years old in March, finished up just his fourth season in the NFL and with the Jaguars in 2019 and could be a long-term addition to the Vikings for more than just this year. In 2019, Ngakoue appeared in 15 games for Jacksonville, tallying a career-best 41 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hits, eight sacks, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and one defensive touchdown.
With little time to get familiar with how things are operated in Minnesota before the new season begins this weekend, Ngakoue will play a very large role in his new home both while Hunter is absent from the lineup and even when he returns to the field at some point this season.