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Vikings Defense

Jags ship another pass rusher out

Early in the offseason, the Jaguars traded pass rusher Calais Campbell to Baltimore. It was an innocuous move, perhaps dumping salary by shipping out an older player. But it's been part of a wider-scale roster turnover in Jacksonville, that's now sent away another, younger franchise pass rusher in Yannick Ngakoue.

Jackonsville used the franchise tag on Ngakoue, a 25-year-old lineman with at least 8 sacks in each of his first four seasons. Ngakoue refused to sign his tender or report to camp, and Jacksonville apparently didn't care to invest in him long-term. They've traded him to Minnesota for a second-round pick and a future conditional pick. Pennies on the dollar.

So the Jaguars will be bad, and cheap; that's for certain. Minnesota seems to have made one of the league's best pass rushes the last couple of years even better.

Minnesota lost Everson Griffen in the offseason, but Griffen was actually the team's 2nd-best pass rusher (behind Danielle Hunter), and is 32 years old. Now, assuming the Vikings eventually given Ngakoue a long-term deal, they could have Hunter and Ngakoue in the field for years to come. Scary tandem.

With Hunter and Griffen, Minnesota had 50 and 48 sacks the last two seasons. Only the Steelers and Saints have more in that span. Should be an even better pass rush, with more future upside, now.

TEAM SACKS, 2018-2019
Team1819Tot
Pittsburgh5254106
New Orleans4951100
Minnesota504898
Kansas City524597
Washington464692
LA Rams415091
Arizona494089
Carolina355388
Philadelphia444387
Green Bay444185
Tampa Bay384785
San Francisco374885
Jacksonville374784
Denver444084
Tennessee394382
Chicago503282
Buffalo364480
Baltimore433780
Indianapolis384179
Dallas393978
New England304777
Cleveland373875
Houston433174
NY Jets393574
Seattle432871
Detroit432871
LA Chargers383068
NY Giants303666
Atlanta372865
Cincinnati343165
Miami312354
Oakland133245

One worry is that Hunter has been sidelined at camp the last two weeks due to injury. Minnesota hasn't given many details on it, or indicated he's in danger of missing the start of the season. Could be precautionary. But coupled with the Ngakoue move, it's fair to be a little nervous that Minnesota felt more pressure to make this trade, perhaps apprehensive about his Week 1 availability.

For now, we're ranking the Vikings as if they'll have both guys out there all saeson. If they do, it'll be a pretty imposing pass rush.

--Andy Richardson

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