Post-trade deadline world brings intriguing opportunity for the Packers to bolster the roster
Before the trade deadline, players with four or more accrued NFL seasons don't go through the waiver process. When teams cut them, they are free agents immediately. But that changes after the deadline, and this rule might bring an interesting possibility for the Green Bay Packers. On Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens waived edge rusher Yannick […]
Before the trade deadline, players with four or more accrued NFL seasons don't go through the waiver process. When teams cut them, they are free agents immediately. But that changes after the deadline, and this rule might bring an interesting possibility for the Green Bay Packers.
On Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens waived edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue. The Ravens plan to sign him back to the practice squad if possible, according to ESPN's NFL insider Adam Schefter, but first he has to pass waivers. Enters the Packers.
Right now, the Green Bay Packers have the 23rd waiver priority — it's the opposite order of the standings, and it's updated every week after Week 3. If the Packers put in a claim and nobody with a higher priority does the same, Green Bay would absorb Ngakoue's old contract with the Ravens for the rest of the season.
If the Packers have a successful claim, they would take $605k in base salary for the rest of the 2024 season. Ngakoue is not exactly a complete edge defender, but his style of play can be really useful for the Packers, especially after the team traded Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday for a seventh-round pick.
Performance
Yannick Ngakoue is 29 years old. A third-round pick in 2016, he has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, and Ravens again. He's been mostly a designated pass rusher, and he hasn't spent more than a consecutive season with the same team since he was traded from the Jaguars in 2020.
While there are these fair concerns about his playing style and his presence in the locker room, Ngakoue is still a productive rusher.
This season, he's had a 12.1% pass rush win rate, which is higher than Rashan Gary, Kingsley Enagbare, and Lukas Van Ness, the top three defensive ends on the Packers' depth chart. Beyond them, the Packers only have Arron Mosby and Brenton Cox, developmental pieces on the bottom of the roster.
In 67 pass rush snaps this season, Ngakoue generated seven pressures. That's one more pressure than Van Ness generated in 141 pass rush snaps.
More than just production, the specific role could be interesting. The Packers have had huge issues to generate pressure from the edge, and adding a lighter player (246 lbs) to the mix is a potential solution to it.
Based on the production, salary, and circumstances, it's easy to make a case for the Packers to make a claim on Ngakoue. Maybe a team with a higher priority makes a claim as well, but that's out of Green Bay's control. Gutekunst has a track record of taking advantage of these opportunities and claiming players off waivers, and this is a particularly intriguing one.
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