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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 18 | 19 | Tot |
| Pittsburgh | 52 | 54 | 106 |
| New Orleans | 49 | 51 | 100 |
| Minnesota | 50 | 48 | 98 |
| Kansas City | 52 | 45 | 97 |
| Washington | 46 | 46 | 92 |
| LA Rams | 41 | 50 | 91 |
| Arizona | 49 | 40 | 89 |
| Carolina | 35 | 53 | 88 |
| Philadelphia | 44 | 43 | 87 |
| Green Bay | 44 | 41 | 85 |
| Tampa Bay | 38 | 47 | 85 |
| San Francisco | 37 | 48 | 85 |
| Jacksonville | 37 | 47 | 84 |
| Denver | 44 | 40 | 84 |
| Tennessee | 39 | 43 | 82 |
| Chicago | 50 | 32 | 82 |
| Buffalo | 36 | 44 | 80 |
| Baltimore | 43 | 37 | 80 |
| Indianapolis | 38 | 41 | 79 |
| Dallas | 39 | 39 | 78 |
| New England | 30 | 47 | 77 |
| Cleveland | 37 | 38 | 75 |
| Houston | 43 | 31 | 74 |
| NY Jets | 39 | 35 | 74 |
| Seattle | 43 | 28 | 71 |
| Detroit | 43 | 28 | 71 |
| LA Chargers | 38 | 30 | 68 |
| NY Giants | 30 | 36 | 66 |
| Atlanta | 37 | 28 | 65 |
| Cincinnati | 34 | 31 | 65 |
| Miami | 31 | 23 | 54 |
| Oakland | 13 | 32 | 45 |
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