Jaguars 90 in 90: Yannick Ngakoue

As we work our way through the summer in preparation for 2019 training camp and the 2019 preseason, we thought it would be a good idea to go down the roster and take a peak at every single player on the Jaguars 90 man. A lot of these players we already know, but roughly half of them won’t make the final roster and there will be some battles on the back end, so this can give us at least some precursory information on players we may not be familiar with.

Now you can look smart watching the preseason games with your friends when they say “Wow, who is that guy?!” — You’ll know.

Next up, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

Yannick Ngakoue, veteran, 24, Maryland

I was going in alphabetical order, but given the recent news decided skip ahead to cover Ngakoue. The Jaguars originally picked Ngakoue in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft, pick 69 (nice) in the same draft they nabbed Jalen Ramsey and Myles Jack. He quickly made an impact as a rookie, taking the starting job from the team’s 2015 first round pick, Dante Fowler, Jr. Ngakoue ended his rookie season with eight sacks and it looked clearly like he was a pass rusher on the rise.

His breakout season was in 2017 when he joined newly signed free agent Calais Campbell in being the first Jaguars pass rushers to hit double-digit sacks in what seemed like forever, earning a Pro Bowl bid and being named in the NFL’s Top 100 players. It was clear the Jaguars found the young pass rusher they’d been looking for since Tony Brackens retired. Ngakoue’s 2018 season saw a dip to 9.5 in sacks, but he was still tops in the NFL in pressures and quarterback hits.

Entering the final year of his rookie deal, he’s currently sitting out mandatory mini-camp while trying to get a new contract from the Jaguars.