7 most important things to know about Yannick Ngakoue
By Dustin Baker
6. Ngakoue is a turnover-forcing machine
“If you remember nothing else” from this analysis, this is the factoid to load in the chamber. The single most important talent the Yannick Ngakoue will utilize as a member of the Minnesota Vikings is his knack for forcing turnovers. Particularly, this means fumbles.
Since 2016, the Jaguar-turned-Viking has forced 14 fumbles. In those same four years, Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter forced 10 between the two of them. That’s right, Ngakoue outpaces Griffen and Hunter combined with his tendency to strip away the football from the opposition. And, it’s usually a quarterback that is the victim.
The 14 forced fumbles induced by Ngakoue is more than Aaron Donald, Von Miller, and Jadeveon Clowney, to name a few. He forced six fumbles in his sophomore season alone, and this was the primary reason Ngakoue visited a Pro Bowl at just 22 years of age.
Strip-sacks are Ngakoue’s finishing move, and that chaos will bleed into U.S. Bank Stadium and beyond.