3 Colts players that should be out the door with Frank Reich
1. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue
This one stung a little but it’s hard to argue with the facts. At this point in the season, Yannick Ngakoue has not lived up to his hype. Yet another player coming over with Gus Bradley, many hoped that Ngakoue would anchor the other side of the defensive line opposite Kwity Paye. However, Ngakoue is having one of his least productive seasons yet.
With the Indianapolis Colts, Ngakoue has totaled 4.5 sacks, 17 tackles, four tackles for loss, and 10 QB hits. The lowest QB hits he has recorded in a season is 11 so he is likely to beat that but it probably won’t be by much. His tackles for loss are the lowest since his rookie season and he actually had more (five) in the six games he played with the Minnesota Vikings. Mind you, we are nine games into this season.
His combined tackle total is the lowest of his career right now and will probably be close to the lowest of his career when it’s all said and done. His sack total has the potential to be his lowest as well. Again, in six games with the Vikings, he had five sacks. According to PFF, he has an overall grade of 50.2 which ranks him 101st out of 115 eligible edge defenders. There are four Colts edge defenders ranked higher than Yannick.
The facts for this move make sense but the impact on the community and locker room would suffer. Since being traded to Indianapolis Ngakoue has been giving back to the community and supporting several local causes and charities. Even in the locker room, he has stood out as a veteran leader that the younger guys can look to for advice. However, if the locker room is lost and the season is a lost cause then losing Ngakoue would not make a huge difference on defense and would also give Dayo Odeyingbo a chance to shine in live game action.
The firing of Frank Reich kicked off a change in the Indianapolis Colts as they search for answers to what has slowly become a lost season. Hopefully, the changes will spark a fire in the players and motivate them to salvage the season if they can. Otherwise, they need to decide now that they are tanking so we have a shot at a premier quarterback in the upcoming NFL draft.
