With a 2-7 record nine weeks through the 2024 NFL season, the thought of the Las Vegas Raiders actively trying to win football games doesn’t please Raider Nation. That doesn’t change the fact that multiple jobs are on the line in Sin City, and the only way to prove why you deserve a job in the National Football League is to win. All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby wants to start winning, too.
As such, while it may not be what fans want to hear, the Raiders will continue trying to earn victories.
Fortunately for Las Vegas, just as it happened last year, an intriguing player has become available for the Raiders to sign halfway through the season. More than that, this particular player is an old friend to the Silver and Black.
On Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens announced the waiving of edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue.
Ngakoue, who signed with Baltimore a handful of weeks into the season, appeared in five contests for the Ravens. The 29-year-old pass-rusher recorded seven pressures and 1.5 sacks during his short stay in Maryland, beating his blockers 12.2% of the time.
For reference, this would be the third-highest mark on the Raiders, behind K’Lavon Chaisson’s 15.4% win percentage and Crosby’s mark of 12.7%. Tyree Wilson isn’t too far behind, either, beating his blockers on 11.1% of snaps.
On the season, Ngakoue has earned a pass-rush grade of 61.6 via Pro Football Focus.
Ngakoue, a consistent contributor for the entirety of his career, would give the Raiders a skillful pass-rush presence opposite of Crosby. Just as he did in 2021.
Yannick Ngakoue and Maxx Crosby: A previously successful duo with the Las Vegas Raiders
Since 2016, two seasons have gone by where the Raiders, collectively, accumulated at least 35 sacks. 2021 was one of those two years, and Nagkoue was a major reason why.
No player in Sin City totaled more sacks than Ngakoue, who brought quarterbacks down on 10 occasions. With 63 pressures on the season, only 13 edge rushers league-wide beat the now-free agent pass-rush specialist in this area.
Maxx Crosby benefited greatly from Ngakoue’s presence as well.
While Ngakoue tallied the 14th-most pressures at his position in 2021, no edge rusher came close to Crosby’s mark of 108. This number led all players league-wide by 20; first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Aaron Donald aside, who racked up 109 pressures during his ’21 campaign.
It may also be worth nothing that 2021 was the last time the Silver and Black punched in a ticket to the postseason.
Las Vegas, who currently ties with the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs for fifth-least sacks across the NFL, have brought quarterbacks down 17 times. The team has a chance to add a player who will help increase that number.
Will Las Vegas put in a claim for the 29-year-old? Thanks to their 2-7 record, if they want Ngakoue, they’ll get him.
*Top Photo: Steve Marcus/ Getty Images
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