Yannick Ngakoue, who played with the Ravens in 2020, signed with the Baltimore's practice squad to add more depth to its pass rush.
A former star at the University of Maryland, the 29-year-old Ngakoue has 69 career sacks for six different teams. His most productive seasons were with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017 (12 sacks) and the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 (10 sacks).
In October of 2020, the Vikings traded Ngakoue to the Ravens in exchange for a third-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick. In nine games that season, Ngakoue had three sacks, 11 tackles, and two forced fumbles during the regular season. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Raiders.
Last season with the Chicago Bears, Ngakoue played and started 13 games with 22 tackles and four sacks.
Ngakoue joins a pass rush room that is ninth in the NFL in sacks (10). Kyle Van Noy is coming off back-to-back games with multiple sacks, and Odafe Oweh had 2.5 sacks in Week 2.
Although Baltimore's pass rush has been strong so far, Head Coach John Harbaugh said Monday there is room for improvement, notably in the fourth quarter.
"We're rushing the passer well, but we can be a little more consistent in terms of our rush lanes, and some of our games and things like that," Harbaugh said.
In a corresponding move to signing Ngakoue, the Ravens released outside linebacker Joe Evans from the practice squad.
