5 stats Chicago Bears fans must know about Yannick Ngakoue signing

2. Yannick Ngakoue struggles against the run

Yannick Ngakoue has 5,497 snaps, and only 1,857 are against the run. He has 395 pressures compared to 145 run stops. That is 34% of the snaps total against the run and 2.8 pressures per run stop. For comparison, DeMarcus Walker played 40% of his career snaps against the run and has just 1.5 pressures per run stop. Green has 38% of his snaps against the run and 1.6 pressures per run stop.

Yes, it means Ngakoue is a better pass rusher, but it also means that these two will be playing the run-downs while Ngakoue will be on the sidelines. Ngakoue is a poor run defender, however you want to stack it up. Last year was one of his worst efforts against the run, and 2021 probably was the worst that Ngakoue has played against the run.

In 2022, he ranked 50th out of 54 qualified edge rushers, and the year before he ranked 63 out of 63 in that area. Needless to say, this is not where the team will be asking him to his damage.

The Chicago Bears made sure to improve their run defense, and it left them needing a pass rush. So, it will take mixing and matching, but if they can get the right pass rush from Ngakoue, they can get the run defense in other places.