Las Vegas Raiders: Yannick Ngakoue named team’s biggest bust in 2021
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders made Yannick Ngakoue the cornerstone of their 2021 free agency, but one media outlet feels he will be the team’s biggest bust.
This offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders certainly made improving the pass rush a priority, bringing in Yannick Ngakoue as their biggest defensive free agent signing. Ngakoue comes to the Raiders to finally turn a weakness into a strength, as the team has been downright atrocious trying to get to the quarterback in recent years.
The lack of a pass rush has led the team to struggle against some of the best quarterbacks in the league, as their young secondary was picked apart weekly. The addition of Ngakoue should change that trend, but some are not convinced he is the answer.
Recently, Brent Sobleski from Bleacher Report put out a list of one player on each team who could be their biggest bust, and Ngakoue was his pick for the Raiders. Sobleski pointed to Ngakoue being traded twice recently, as well as him being a poor run-defender as reasons why he could sport the bust label in 2021.
While this is a good assessment and good reasons why it could happen, the truth is, the Raiders just need Ngakoue to help big time with the pass rush. They have some guys they can kick inside to stop the run, including an edge rusher in Clelin Ferrell, but in Ngakoue, he has to be the perfect complement to Maxx Crosby in the pass rush.
Raiders need Ngakoue to be a double-digit sack guy in 2021
The Raiders also drafted University of Buffalo star Malcolm Koonce, who will be expected to join Carl Nassib in more of a situational pass rusher role in Year 1. Overall, this is a position group that was revamped in a very positive way in 2021, and the hope is that Gus Bradley can take advantage of all this new talent in Year 1 with the Raiders.
As a team, the Raiders managed only 21 sacks in 2020, which was once again one of the worst marks in all of football. Crosby was responsible for seven of those sacks, playing extremely well despite being the target of double-teams weekly, and in Ngakoue, he will finally have that guy on the other side who will take some of the pressure off of him, leading to a possible double-digit sack campaign for him as well.
If everything goes right, this tandem could eclipse the team’s sack total from 2020 by themselves.