The Chicago Bears will have to make decisions on plenty of free-agent candidates on their roster this offseason, and one of them will be Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue did not sign until late in the offseason, but he ended up being one of the highest-paid options on the roster this year. However, there are plenty of reasons to believe that he will not be back.
The Chicago Bears are unlikely to re-sign Yannick Ngakoue in free agency
First, he has not been someone who stays in one spot for too long. After the Jacksonville Jaguars traded him during his rookie contract, he has not been with one team for more than a year. That is because he plays for himself to get sacks and stats but does not play team defense. It has led to him being a notoriously bad run defender.
This year, he lost his fastball as an edge rusher as well. Ngakoue had a 4.8% pass rush win rate this year, by far the worst of his career. For comparison, his win rate was 7.1% last year and 10.7% the year prior.
Even when the Bears added Montez Sweat, he did see his sack production increase, but his win rate did not. He was just being fortunate to play with Sweat, and most rushers opposite of him would have made that play. Even with that small bump, he was going to finish with his worst sack production of his career. Then, you add in a season-ending injury.
Ngakoue is going to hold out for the biggest offer, and we know that he will even wait until the deep months of summer. The Chicago Bears know that he is not worth the money they paid him last year and would only low-ball him. It is clear that these two sides are not coming together in free agency.