Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars: Pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue flashing skills

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Jacksonville Jaguars have long been searching for some edge rushers, and they may have found a good one in Yannick Ngakoue…

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been thirsting for talent coming off the edge for years now, and it seems like they may have finally found a couple of pretty good ones.

The game against the Chargers was largely out of reach, but we saw both rookie Yannick Ngakoue and ‘second year’ player Dante Fowler Jr. start to get in on the action, getting after the quarterback.

Ngakoue is the subject and focus of this piece, because prior to the draft, he was somewhat of an unknown. Take a look at his strip sack of Philip Rivers here against the Chargers in week two:

Yannick Ngakoue with back-to-back games with a strip-sack on the quarterback! https://t.co/Nf5ijceZZg

— Big Cat Country (@BigCatCountry) September 25, 2016

Ngakoue was brought to Jacksonville with the 69th pick in this past year’s draft, and he was drafted with one purpose — get pressure on the quarterback. For the past two games, he’s done that and he’s also getting the ball out when he gets there.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ngakoue had 41 pressures against power five conference pass rushers this past season at Maryland, which is pretty phenomenal production, all things considered.

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Ngakoue showed in college an ability to win on the inside and the outside, which sort of makes him — in Gus Bradley’s defense — a more versatile version of Bruce Irvin, who was once a first round pick of the Seattle Seahawks when Bradley was still there.

Ngakoue wasn’t as productive as a sack artist in college as Irvin was at times for West Virginia, but he offers similar upside as a guy that can come in and make an impact in the pass rush department, but the Jaguars might be able to use him as more than just a ‘gadget’ guy or ace in the hole as a third down rusher.

Ngakoue is the type of player that can develop into something special because of his explosiveness and quickness. He’s got a great feel for finding his way through blockers, whether he’s trying to get around the edge quickly, or if he has to use power on the inside to get to the quarterback.

I really like what I’ve seen in limited action from this young pass rusher, and hope to see some more of this as the Jaguars play ‘host’ to the Colts in London this weekend.

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