With No Danielle Hunter, the Spotlight is on Yannick Ngakoue in Week 1
The Vikings will have to wait at least three weeks to see their recently-formed, all-world defensive end tandem on the field. Danielle Hunter was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, meaning he won't be eligible to play until Week 4 at the earliest. Losing a player as dominant and productive as Hunter is a tough blow for the Vikings' defense, especially with a critically-important season opener against the Packers looming, but they're not going to make excuses.
"To me, I don’t look at it as a challenge," said co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson on Thursday. "You just go play. That’s part of football. Guys can’t play in games, we go play. That’s why you have other guys on your roster, you expect for them to step up and go play and get the job done. We’ve never panicked around here and we never will."
Although the Vikings may be down one star 25-year-old pass rusher, a trade conducted less than two weeks ago gave them another one to build around. The Vikings made a splash by acquiring 2017 Pro Bowler Yannick Ngakoue from the Jaguars two Sundays ago. One of five players with at least 35 sacks and ten forced fumbles over the past four seasons (37.5 and 14, to be exact), Ngakoue brings a game-changing presence to a Vikings defensive line that lost Everson Griffen this offseason.
He's had just about a week of practice time with his new team, but Ngakoue has already been better than the Vikings expected. He's picked up the team's defensive scheme quickly, in no small part due to his commitment to staying late after practice and studying the playbook. He has also been as advertised on the practice field with tools that include a lightning-quick first step and powerful hands.
"He’s been outstanding," Patterson said. "He’s been better than I’ve ever dreamed. He’s come in early, he stayed late, he’s got a great hunger for knowledge and wanting to be good, and I’ve been very, very impressed with him. I’m excited that he’s here even more after having these days to work with him."
For Ngakoue, these past couple weeks have been an all-out sprint to get ready for this upcoming Sunday. He hadn't reported to Jaguars training camp while awaiting a trade, so there was a level of physical rust he needed to shake off. After going through the COVID-19 testing protocols, Ngakoue was able to practice with his new teammates for the first time last Thursday, just ten days prior to the opener.
He remained in great shape all offseason, but the injury risk was there because he hadn't been playing football at all. Patterson and the Vikings have slowly ramped up Ngakoue's reps every day since that first practice. "Each day I’ve kind of pushed him a little bit farther," Patterson said.
Shaking off the rust has been a minor challenge compared to the transition of learning a new defense and a new role. The Vikings ask their defensive ends to do different things than what Ngakoue was doing with the Jaguars, so he's had to learn those new expectations over a short window of time.
"It’s a big difference in what we do and what they do in Jacksonville," Patterson said. "And I think that’s the reason why he had so much of a sense of urgency to put in the time to try to learn it. Because [it's] not just the terminology being different, but how we ask our guys to play is so much different, too. It’s just him understanding how we align, how we play blocks and those kinds of things."
One of the main reasons why the Vikings dealt two picks to the Jaguars to acquire Ngakoue was that they felt they could not only utilize what he already does well, but even add to his game a little bit. Patterson has relished the opportunity to work with his new toy and mold him into what he envisions him becoming.
"You know me, I'm changing him," Patterson said. "That's what I'm doing. That's who I am. When I say that, I'm not taking away who he is. Don't get that wrong, OK? The things that are special to his game, we're going to keep special to his game. But the things that I see that can add a different element to his game, to make him so much more difficult to block, we're going to work on those things. That's one of the things that I've been very impressed with, is that he's eager to try to work those things and work real hard at it and not get frustrated if it doesn't win right away."
When Ngakoue takes the field at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, he will have had just five official practices as a Viking. Despite all the extra time he's put in, it'll still be a work in progress as he applies new plays, calls, and techniques into a real game – and an important one, at that.
And yet, the spotlight is going to be on him. With no Hunter, Ngakoue is far and away the best and most dangerous player on Minnesota's defensive line. Defensive ends Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jalyn Holmes, and Eddie Yarbrough all figure to be part of the rotation, but none of them have anything resembling the skillset and track record of Ngakoue. Whether it's fair or not – and whether he lines up at right end against Packers All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, at left end, or moves around – he's going to be expected to put pressure on Aaron Rodgers early and often.
If anyone can handle that type of responsibility with such little time to prepare, it's Ngakoue. The former third-round pick has always been known for his work ethic and ambition. He took a nearly $6 million pay cut to get out of Jacksonville and join the Vikings because, in his words, "money was never my drive coming into this business."
Ngakoue wanted a fresh start. He wanted to play for Mike Zimmer and Patterson, to play with Hunter and the other stars on this Vikings defense. He wants to be great.
"I see in the building, they have on the wall all the Hall of Famers before you get into the auditorium," Ngakoue said. "I just feel like that’s the biggest motivation if you really love this game and this sport. You look to your right, and you see the John Randles, the Randy Mosses, the Cris Carters – guys like that who brought it each and every Sunday. That’s my aspiration, to be a Hall of Famer, and I’m working and striving to do that each and every day.”
On Sunday, the Yannick Ngakoue era begins in Minnesota.
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