Yannick Ngakoue

Yannick Nicolas Ngakoue (born March 31, 1995) is an American football defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Maryland.

Early years
Ngakoue attended Friendship Collegiate Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., where he was teammates with Eddie Goldman. As a senior, he was the Gatorade Football Player of the Year for Washington D.C. after recording 17 sacks. Ngakoue was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the fourth best outside linebacker in his class. He committed to the University of Maryland, College Park to play college football.

College career
As a true freshman at Maryland in 2013, Ngakoue played in all 13 games and had nine tackles, two sacks and an interception. As a sophomore in 2014, he started all 12 games and recorded 37 tackles and six sacks. As a junior in 2015, Ngakoue set a school record with 13.5 sacks. After the season, he announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2016 NFL Draft.

2016 season: Rookie year
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Ngakoue in the third round (69th overall) in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was the seventh defensive end selected. On June 22, 2016, the Jaguars signed Ngakoue to a four-year, $3.48 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $856,176. Throughout training camp, he competed for the starting defensive end position against Dante Fowler, Chris Smith, and Jared Odrick. Head coach Gus Bradley named him the backup defensive end behind starters Fowler and Odrick to begin his rookie season.

Ngakoue made his NFL debut in the Jaguars' season-opener against the Green Bay Packers and made two combined tackles during their 27-23 loss. The following week, he earned his first NFL start, as the Jaguars opted to start him at right defensive end over Dante Fowler, and recorded three combined tackles, forced the first fumble of his career, and made his first NFL sack on Philip Rivers in the Jaguars' 38-14 loss at the San Diego Chargers. His first NFL forced fumble came in the second quarter, as he had a strip sack on Rivers. The ball was recovered by Jaguars' safety Johnathan Cyprien. On October 2, Ngakoue made a season-high four solo tackles and recorded his first NFL interception on quarterback Andrew Luck after the pass was deflected by defensive end Dante Fowler during a 30-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In the season finale on January 1, 2017, he collected two solo tackles and made his eighth career sack on Andrew Luck in a 24-20 loss to the Colts. Ngakoue finished his rookie season with 22 combined tackles (19 solo), eight sacks, two pass deflections, an interception, and a forced fumble in 16 games and 15 starts. His eight sacks broke a Jaguars rookie record, previously held by Tony Brackens. Following his rookie season, Ngakoue was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. The Jaguars finished the 2016 season 3-13 and head coach Gus Bradley was fired after Week 15 and offensive line coach Doug Marrone served as the interim head coach for Weeks 16-17.

2017 season
Ngakoue entered training camp competing to maintain his starting defensive end role against newly acquired free agent Calais Campbell and Dante Fowler. New head coach Doug Marrone opted to maintain the Gus Bradley's staff and keep defensive coordinator Todd Wash and his base 4-3 defense. Ngakoue was named the starting left defensive end, opposite Calais Campbell, to start the 2017 season.

Ngakoue started the Jaguars' season-opener Houston Texans and recorded four combined tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery during their 29-7 victory. His first forced fumble came in the second quarter and was on quarterback Tom Savage and was recovered by teammate Abry Jones, which set the Jaguars up for a touchdown scoring drive. Toward the end of the second quarter, he had another strip sack on Savage that was recovered and returned by Dante Fowler Jr. for a 53-yard touchdown. Toward the end of the third quarter, he recovered a fumble by quarterback Deshaun Watson that was caused by teammate Fowler. On October 22, he made four combined tackles and a season-high 2.5 sacks during the Jaguars' 27-0 routing of the Indianapolis Colts. During a Week 11 matchup at the Cleveland Browns, Ngakoue made three combined tackles and 2.5 sacks in a 19-7 victory. On December 24, Ngakoue collected two solo tackles and made his 12th sack of the season on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as the Jaguars lost to the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 44-33. He finished the season with 30 combined tackles (24 solo) and 12 sacks in 16 starts as the Jaguars finished first in the AFC South with a 10-6 record. The Jaguars' defensive line became dominant throughout the season with the key additions of Calais Campbell (during free agency) and Marcell Dareus (a midseason trade acquisition). They adopted the nickname "Sacksonville" throughout their 2017 campaign. His 12 sacks tied for eighth in the league and was second on the team behind Campbell's 14.5 sacks. He also had a league-leading six forced fumbles. On January 22, 2018, Ngakoue was named to his first Pro Bowl as an injury replacement for teammate Campbell. Ngakoue was ranked 88th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.

Jaguars franchise records

 * Most sacks in a season by a rookie: 8.0