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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Free agent outside linebacker 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.
Ngakoue, 29, is being signed to Baltimore’s practice squad, according to another source.
The move is surprising because the Ravens have gotten pressure on quarterbacks this season. Baltimore has 10 sacks in three games, ranking ninth in the NFL.
Ngakoue brings experience to one of the Ravens’ youngest groups. Of Baltimore’s top four pass rushers, only Kyle Van Noy is older than 25.
The Ravens acquired Ngakoue in 2020 from the Minnesota Vikings, trading a third-round pick and a conditional fifth-rounder for him. But he never really clicked in Baltimore, finishing with 11 tackles and three sacks in nine games.
Ngakoue played only that season with the Ravens, signing with the Raiders in free agency after playing 20 snaps in Baltimore’s AFC divisional playoff loss at the Buffalo Bills.
The Chicago Bears brought in Ngakoue 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.
Pairing Ngakoue with edge rusher Montez Sweat last November 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.
Ngakoue 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.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin contributed to this report.