What separates Everson Griffen and the new Minnesota Vikings defensive end?
In a Sunday morning stunner, the Minnesota Vikings acquired pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings dealt a 2021 second-round pick and conditional 2022 fifth-round pick to the Jaguars for the services of Ngakoue.
The transaction was surprising to the utmost as it was theorized that Minnesota defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo seemingly had the starting position opposite Danielle Hunter all but wrapped up. But that theory was bogus or at the very least, prematurely hypothesized.
Now, the Vikings go from a probably-formidable pair of defensive ends in Hunter and Odenigbo to undoubtedly one of the most spine-chilling tandems in all of the NFL with Hunter and Ngakoue.
Everson Griffen‘s penned goodbye letter, a strange period of free-agency limbo this year, and his eventual agreement with the Dallas Cowboys brought a sense of universal sorrow to the team’s fan base. Ngakoue, with the stroke of a tweet, lessens the melancholy.
The 25-year-old will play under a one-year contract at a value of $12 million. The trade effectively drained the remainder of Minnesota’s salary cap space to nil, but that is not too uncommon as a new NFL season approaches. Imminent deals for stars like halfback Dalvin Cook and safety Anthony Harris are now thrust into uncertainty.
So, what are the main differences between the departed Griffen and the freshly-arrived Ngakoue? Let’s analyze.
Ngakoue is younger
This is the number-one-with-a-bullet difference. Nothing about the Everson Griffen and Yannick Ngakoue switch is more important than the age differential.
Griffen will be 33-years-old this December while Ngakoue turned 25 this spring. For many NFL players, that is an entire career’s worth of age variance.
The Vikings essentially pressed the reset button on their defensive line in terms of esteem. Griffen, had he remained in Minnesota, would have finished out his days in a less prolific fashion. It’s just what happens to aging players and especially those buried in the trenches.
Ngakoue murders that scenario. His teammate on the other side of the defensive line, Danielle Hunter, is also 25-years-old. Instead of the Vikings watching Hunter be the showstopper while Griffen mopped up the remainder of defensive boxscores, Ngakoue and Hunter join forces to collectively induce mayhem.
There is a feasible and potent possibility that the Hunter-Ngakoue doublet anchors the front of the defense for several years, which is the stuff only horror film scripts can bring to life.
Recently, Ngakoue has generated more pressure upfront
First off, none of the information dispensed in this examination is an affront to Everson Griffen. He was a Vikings cornerstone for a decade and he righteously deserves the praise of the team’s fans.
Yet, as of late, Yannick Ngakoue has caused more havoc upfront than Griffen. In the last two seasons, Ngakoue has tallied 78 pressures to Griffen’s 54. Both marks are admirable, without question.
It should also be noted that Griffen missed five games in 2018 due to a mental health matter. Ngakoue has only missed one game in the last two years and that occurred early in the 2019 campaign when he missed a Week 2 matchup against the Houston Texans with a hamstring injury.
Per game, the nod in pressures still goes to Ngakoue. Since 2018, Griffen has created 2.07 pressures per contest, and Ngakoue bested this average with a 2.51 pressures-per-game mark. In layman’s terms, Ngakoue has forced about 21 percent more pressure per matchup than Griffen during the last two seasons.
Griffen records more tackles than Ngakoue
This is interesting because to a naked eye one might surmise the two defensive ends are comparable from a tackling standpoint. But in the last four seasons, they are not.
Yannick Ngakoue joined the NFL in 2016 when the Jaguars selected him out of Maryland in the third round. Everson Griffen was then in his late 20s, so the age discrepancy between the two men is again mentionable.
In the last four seasons, Griffen has totaled 167 combined tackles, ranking 29th in the NFL among defensive ends. For Ngaokue, he has notched 122 tackles or the 61st-most in the business during the same time frame.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assert that Griffen is more effective against the run or he has been in the last 60 games or so. Ngakoue’s reputation through age 25 is that of a pass-rusher and perhaps his run-stopping prowess will develop in time.
Interestingly though, Ngakoue does have five more tackles-for-loss than Griffen since 2016. So, Griffen is more apt at run-stopping vis-a-vis “regular plays” whereas Ngakoue is skilled in destroying a rush play before it even begins.
Ngakoue is going to be more expensive
You can file this under the “guarantee it” folder of the analysis.
Per reports, the quintessential reason that Yannick Ngakoue soured on Jacksonville was the team’s standoffishness with money. Like every sports player in human history, Ngakoue wants financial stability.
Reportedly, the Jaguars sought to lock up the 25-year-old in a short-term arrangement, but Ngakoue scoffed at that proposal. He desired a more longterm commitment, one that evidently produced skittish feelings for Jacksonville’s front office.
With Minnesota, Ngakoue will play for “cheap” in year one at a price of $12 million. Unless he is downright dreadful in 2020, he will strike up the same talks next offseason akin to those he had with the Jaguars.
This is forecasted to slide the Vikings into a precarious spot because the team is staring down the barrel of contract payouts to Dalvin Cook, Anthony Harris, and Brian O’Neill, to name a few. Minnesota can explore cutting ties with longstanding players such as Riley Reiff, Kyle Rudolph, or Anthony Barr to retain the aforementioned men, but that will likely come at a hefty emotional toll.
Body-wise, they are different
In the grand scheme of production, the notion that each man is built uniquely is unimportant. But, it is interesting.
Everson Griffen is listed on most scouting reports at 6-foot-3 and 273 pounds. Conversely, Yannick Ngakoue tips the scales at 6-foot-2 and 246 pounds. The height of each man is comparable, but Griffen is 30 pounds heavier than the newest Viking. Griffen would likely claim it’s all muscle, for what it’s worth.
Put simply, Ngakoue is leaner and, in defensive lineman terms, he is significantly leaner. A point-blank way to think of it is that he is built like a linebacker. His body comparables to other current and former NFL players include Vontaze Burfict, Chad Greenway, Lance Briggs, and E.J. Henderson.
On the other hand, Griffen is more of a prototypical defensive end. His stature closely mirrors that of guys around the league like Za’Darius Smith, Myles Garrett, Frank Clark, and Justin Houston.
If you’re curious, Danielle Hunter is 6-foot-5 and 252 pounds, a taller blend of both Griffen and Ngakoue.
Ngakoue is flagged for fewer penalties
Yannick Ngakoue, on the whole, is called for fewer penalties than Everson Griffen. But the context is bittersweet.
Since entering the league, Ngakoue has been flagged just three times for pre-snap infractions. That is extraordinarily impressive. In the same period, Griffen has been penalized 19 times for the same type of encroachment-like penalties. The 19 to three split here is a humongous deviation. Ngakoue is undeniably more disciplined at the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped.
But the discipline overall ends with that metric. During his four-year career to date, Ngakoue has been hit with 12 penalties of the 15-yard variety. These include unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer, and facemask infringements. Since 2016, Everson Griffen only has three such offenses.
Ergo, unless Ngakoue’s somewhat unruly tendencies are tamed by the Vikings coaching staff, you will see far more large penalties from him than you ever saw from Griffen. Yet, to inversely pay the piper, the lack of pre-snap penalties will offset the more violent infractions.
Ngakoue forces more turnovers than Griffen
Yannick Ngakoue’s knack for forcing turnovers is arguably the most superior asset to the arsenal of traits displayed by Everson Griffen.
This one is huge. In the last four years, Ngakoue has forced 14 fumbles, and that is good enough for fourth-most in the league. Notably, his 14 forced fumbles are more than guys like Aaron Donald, Von Miller, and Jadeveon Clowney since 2016.
Ngakoue is a fumble-creating machine while Griffen is not.
Since 2016, Griffen has forced five fumbles or the 54th-most in the business. Griffen has performed marvelously in several areas, but strip-sacks and other forced fumbles have not been his forte recently.
One final bit of perspective. Ngakoue has played 63 career games and through these 63 contests, he has forced more fumbles than guys like Jared Allen, J.J. Watt, and Khalil Mack thru their respective first 63 games played.
Perhaps Mr. Ngakoue will pop the ball out of the hands of Jaguars signal-caller Gardner Minshew II when the Vikings and Jacksonville meet in early December.