The Patriots made a pair of transactions on defense.
The New England Patriots keep throwing darts at the board in hopes of improving their roster. The latest landed on a veteran defender, who was just released by the Baltimore Ravens: the team claimed outside linebacker Yannick Ngakoue off waivers on Friday.
A former third-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars and one-time Pro Bowl selection, Ngakoue is in his ninth NFL season. Joining the Patriots means he is now also on his seventh different team.
What does the move mean from a New England perspective, though? Let’s find out.
Why did the Patriots claim Ngakoue?
The Patriots’ defensive edge has undergone quite the transformation since training camp. The unit started out with Matthew Judon, Anfernee Jennings, Joshua Uche and Oshane Ximines as the top four options available, but only one of them — Jennings — remains on the active roster heading into the Patriots’ upcoming game against the Chicago Bears.
Judon and Uche, meanwhile, were traded to the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively. Ximines, on the other hand, will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ACL back in September.
The Patriots managed to get by with the ever-reliable Jennings as their top edge, and also recently promoted Ochaun Mathis from the practice squad to offer additional depth. In addition, they kept moving versatile players such as Keion White, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jahlani Tavai into end-of-line roles in select situations.
While that arrangement has worked to some degree, there is no denying the Patriots’ lack of depth on the edge is a problem and has contributed to the pass rush not performing at the same level as previous years. From reducing players’ workload to keeping them in their most natural positions, adding another option like Ngakoue therefore should make life a little easier for New England’s current personnel.
What he will eventually be able to provide remains to be seen. At the very least, however, he is an experienced option to add to a relatively young New England edge.
What will Ngakoue’s role with the Patriots be?
Ever since Ngakoue joined the NFL as a third-round pick in 2016, he has primarily been employed as a pass rusher — a role he is likely to fill in New England as well.
The Patriots, of course, have disappointed in that area so far in 2024: their 16 sacks have them ranked 29th in the league, and their 18.4 percent pressure rate 28th. Ngakoue single-handedly fixing those problems should not be expected; there is a reason he is on his seventh team now. That being said, he has shown that he can still be a productive player when used in a specialized role.
Over the past couple of seasons, new #Patriots ED Yannick Ngakoue has shown the ability to beat tackles outside with a cross-chop, inside with a spin move, or down the middle with speed-to-power
Also flashed some edge-setting ability as a DE pic.twitter.com/YHFfsAfdRE
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) November 8, 2024
Ngakoue’s experience rushing the passer is something the Patriots are lacking at the moment. With the exception of the aforementioned Deatrich Wise Jr. (2,621), who is more of a defensive end than a traditional outside linebacker, none of their edge players have amassed more than 1,000 career pass rush snaps.
Anfernee Jennings stands at 641, per Pro Football Focus; Keion White — another player better suited to play inside — at 538; Ochaun Mathis at 55. Ngakoue, for comparison, has rushed the passer on a combined 4,009 snaps over the course of his career: out of those, 72 ended in a sack, with 22 resulting in a forced fumble.
While his recent production has not been on the level it was earlier in his career — he registered just 5.5 total sacks over the last two seasons — the Patriots are not in a position to be picky when it comes to available talent at positions of need. They entered Friday with questions about both their edge depth and their pass rush, and Ngakoue will at least give them an established NFL option to work with.
What is Ngakoue’s contract situation with the Patriots?
When a team claims a player off the waiver wire, it inherits his contract from his previous team. This means that Ngakoue will continue playing on the one-year, $1.21 million contract he signed when he was promoted from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad to their active roster in mid-October.
However, not all of that monetary obligation will transfer to New England. For starters, Ngakoue qualifies for the veteran salary benefit, meaning that not all of his contract value is counted against the salary cap. His actual base cap number in 2024 is not the $1.21 million mentioned above, but rather $985,000.
Of that sum, only half will count against the Patriots’ books. Why? For a simple reason: the 2024 season is halfway over. Splitting that $985,000 in half results in a non-guaranteed cap hit of $492,500.
Unless the Patriots make any modifications to that deal, that will be Ngakoue’s salary cap number for the remainder of the season. He also will be scheduled to enter unrestricted free agency next March.
Will Ngakoue play for the Patriots on Sunday?
The Patriots will fly to Illinois on Saturday, and take on the Chicago Bears the next day. For Ngakoue, who was with the Ravens until Thursday, that would be a rather quick turnaround. After all, he will likely fly to New England late Friday to undergo a physical and then only have time to participate in the traditional pre-game walkthrough before boarding a plane to Chicago.
Obviously, he is an experienced player and the Patriots could simply tell him to pin back his ears and go after the passer on a handful of downs on Sunday. However, his lack of chemistry with the rest of the team’s pass rush personnel, plus Bears quarterback Caleb Williams being an able escape artist, might prompt the team to play things slow.
So, while there is a theoretical chance that Ngakoue suits up and plays against Chicago, the circumstances and opponent both make it unlikely.
With Ngakoue coming aboard, the Patriots had to make a corresponding roster move. It came via waiving off-the-ball linebacker Raekwon McMillan.
A former second-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins, McMillan first arrived in New England in 2021. Now, he has reached the end of an admittedly injury-riddled line with the club.
Again, let’s assess what the move means from a team perspective.
Why did the Patriots release McMillan?
After missing two of his first three seasons as a Patriot with injury, McMillan appeared to turn a corner this offseason. He was praised for being a “tone setter” in the linebacker room and was on his way to carving out a role as the team’s third option at the position as well as a core special teams presence.
While he indeed managed to earn a prominent kicking game role — more on that in a second — his defensive contributions did not meet expectations. That became evident after starting linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley was lost for the year with a pectoral injury: while New England inserted him as the No. 2 next to Jahlani Tavai, he had a rough time in his first game against the New York Jets.
He did start the next three games as well, but saw his playing time plummet afterwards. With Christian Elliss emerging as a more reliable presence at the second level, McMillan was relegated to a backup role again. And once Sione Takitaki returned off the physically unable to perform list and put his knee ailment behind him — he was removed from the injury report on Friday — the writing was on the wall for McMillan.
Of course, there is a chance the team will bring him back after all. If he goes through waivers unclaimed, the Patriots could sign him to their practice squad. With a full 16 players currently on the developmental roster, another follow-up move would be necessary in that scenario.
How does releasing McMillan impact the Patriots?
From a defensive perspective, releasing McMillan changes little. Yes, a layer of depth is removed from the off-ball linebacker group, but he was increasingly becoming an emergency only player anyway: Jahlani Tavai, Christian Elliss and Sione Takitaki were going to be the top three regardless of McMillan being present in the room or not.
In addition, Curtis Jacobs offers further depth on the 53-man roster. New England also has Joe Giles-Harris and Monty Rice on its practice squad.
That does not mean his release will not be felt, though. As mentioned above, after all, McMillan was a core special teamer for the Patriots: playing 181 snaps in the game’s third phase, his 78 percent playing time share ranked third behind only Brenden Schooler (87.9%) and Marcellas Dial (85.3%); he also was sixth on the team with two special teams tackles.
The Patriots now will have to replace McMillan on five units. He was a mainstay on the kickoff and punt return teams, the kickoff and punt coverage teams, and the field goal/extra point blocking unit.
What does releasing McMillan mean for the Patriots salary cap?
According to salary cap expert Miguel Benzan and given his status as an eight-year veteran, McMillan is eligible for termination pay as specified in the NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. As a consequence, the Patriots will save no salary cap space and McMillan’s cap number will remain at $1.53 million.