Green Bay Packers: 4 Matchups to watch against the Vikings

Yannick Ngakoue vs. Offensive Tackles

This game will be the first look many Green Bay Packers’ fans get at the Vikings newest edge rusher addition. He was a consistent threat off the edge for the Jaguars in his first four NFL seasons, racking up at least eight sacks in each of those years. In 2017, he had a career-high twelve sacks and made the Pro Bowl. He also showed his ability as a strip sack threat, forcing a league-high six fumbles. He has a total of 14 for his career, so that is definitely something to watch.

With star pass rusher Danielle Hunter out for the Vikings this week, a lot of responsibility will be on Ngakoue to manufacture pressure on Aaron Rodgers. With that being the case, I would be very surprised if he lines up across from left tackle David Bakhtiari, who is one of the league’s best pass protectors. Instead, he’ll line up most of the time against whoever ends up playing right tackle.

The right tackle situation for the Packers is looking bleak after the departure of Bryan Bulaga (Iowa), who had made 111 starts at the position over the past nine seasons. Billy Turner, who has been seen as an option to move out to tackle after playing guard last season, is listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game. Rick Wagner, who was signed as a free agent from the Lions is also a possibility as is Lane Taylor who has mostly played guard in his career, but has spent a few games filling in at tackle before. Who knows, maybe they’ll surprise everyone and slide Elgton Jenkins out there.

Whoever ends up on the edge is going to have their hands full as they’ll probably have to quell an onslaught of moves from Ngakoue all game. Like Cook, it’s expected that he’ll get his pressures. The Green Bay Packers just need to keep him from wrecking their whole game with multiple sacks and they should be fine.