Signed to boost the pass rush, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue says he was ‘always meant to be a Chicago Bear’

The Chicago Bears will be Yannick Ngakoue’s sixth team since 2019, a high number given the veteran pass rusher’s consistent production getting after quarterbacks over the course of his career.

So when Ngakoue held his introductory news conference Friday at Halas Hall after signing a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Bears, he was asked if he was motivated to turn Chicago into a long-term home should this season go well.

Ngakoue held up his hand.

“I feel like it was meant for me to be here,” Ngakoue said. “I actually have a bear tatted on my hand. I feel like that was a sign to me that I was always meant to be a Chicago Bear.”

It certainly was meant to be in that the Bears desperately needed a pass rusher to boost a unit that had a league-low 20 sacks last season. They added a player who had 19 ½ sacks over his last two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders and Indianapolis Colts.

“Just the rush stands out first of all,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said when asked about Ngakoue’s skill set. “To be able to capture the edge with his speed, but to also have the strength and that length to be able to level back. A lot of guys have that speed rush, but you’ve got to be able to still be able to bore at the top to be able to finish the rush. That’s an important piece, and he has that.”

Ngakoue’s connections with the Raiders and Colts played a part in finding a fit with the Bears.

In Las Vegas, he played under position coach Rod Marinelli, a mentor of Eberflus and someone who Ngakoue said “saw something in me.” Marinelli used to tell Ngakoue he had some of the same attributes as former Bears All-Pro Julius Peppers, and he just has “to tap into that skill set and just show the world.”

Ngakoue, 28, also played under current Bears defensive line coach Travis Smith there. And he played in a similar defensive scheme to the Bears’ under coordinator Gus Bradley in Las Vegas and Indianapolis.

Ngakoue said having Smith in Chicago should help his transition. And Marinelli and Smith gave the Bears insight into how Ngakoue operates.

“I guess he’s full tilt when he practices, and he keeps himself in great shape,” Eberflus said. “He’s very mindful of his body and how he stays in great shape to be able to go hard like that. To be really good and effective in pass rushing, you’ve got to bring it — and you’ve got to bring it every single down. You can’t take a play off and that takes being in great shape, and you’ve got to have that mentality.”

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Ngakoue thinks the Bears have the right culture, history and fit for him after an unusual career path.

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound defensive end was a 2016 third-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played there four seasons, with a career-high 12 sacks and six forced fumbles in a Pro Bowl season in 2017. Starting in 2020, he was traded three times: from the Jaguars to the Minnesota Vikings to the Baltimore Ravens and then the Raiders to the Colts.

But Ngakoue credited his “mental strength and faith” for helping him remain steady over his seven-year career, racking up 65 sacks, 135 quarterback hits and 21 forced fumbles while missing very few games.

“I feel like I’m blessed to be able to produce consistently, and that’s what I plan on doing for my team here,” Ngakoue said.

If Ngakoue has earned a reputation as a pass-rush specialist, Eberflus said he will be “an every-down end” for the Bears.

“He’s going to have to play in those situations,” Eberflus said. “And he’s done it. He’s been good at it and we’ve got to make sure that he sharpens that part of it as well. And he will do that.”

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When asked about those who question his run defense, Ngakoue said, “They’ll see this year.”

Ngakoue’s new Bears teammates surely are eager to see what he can do on a defense that already received offseason upgrades at linebacker, cornerback and interior defensive line. He joins a defensive ends group that includes offseason free-agent additions DeMarcus Walker and Rasheem Green and young returnees Dominique Robinson and Trevis Gipson.

Bears safety Eddie Jackson received a text Thursday night from teammate Jaquan Brisker with a link to a story about Ngakoue’s new deal.

Jackson’s text response: “It’s up! It’s up!”

“It’s just getting scarier and scarier,” Jackson said of adding more to the defense. “You’re just adding more talent and more talent. … When you’ve got a lot of large group of talented players and people that are actually locked in and really love football, that’s just more fuel to the fire. We feel like, ‘OK we just keep taking it up a notch.’ Now we done added him. It’s like, ‘Oh, man, it’s up.’ Like this thing is headed in the right direction.”

Ngakoue didn’t practice Friday but said he would be ready to go whenever Bears coaches want him on the field. While waiting for the right deal to emerge over the last several months, he said he spent time hanging out with family, keeping his mind clear — and working out.

“You’ve got to stay ready,” he said.

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Bears fans cheer for autographs after practice on July 27, 2023, during training camp at Halas Hall. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)