Free agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who has 69 career sacks, is returning to the Baltimore Ravens, for whom he last played in 2020, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
The Chicago Bears brought in Ngakoue, 29, at the start of 2023 training camp on a one-year, $10.5 million contract to help fix the league’s worst pass rush, which had totaled an NFL-low 20 sacks in 2022.
It wasn’t until the Bears traded for edge rusher Montez Sweat last November that their pass rush saw considerable improvement. Pairing Ngakoue with Sweat had a significant effect on the eight-year NFL veteran, whose season was cut short after 13 games when he broke an ankle Dec. 10 and was placed on injured reserve.
In those 13 games, Ngakoue totaled 4 sacks, 7 quarterback hits and 22 tackles.
The Bears were Ngakoue’s fifth team since the start of the 2020 season. He posted at least eight sacks in each of his first seven NFL seasons and joined the Bears after totaling 9.5 sacks with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.
Ngakoue spent the first four years of his career with Jacksonville before the Jaguars placed the franchise tag on the pass rusher during the 2020 offseason. He was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in August 2020 and played six games for them before being sent to the Ravens ahead of the trade deadline. Despite one-year stints with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 and the Colts in 2022, Ngakoue’s production had not dipped.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.
