Film Room: How Yannick Ngakoue strikes fear into his opponents

Merriam-Webster defines fear as "an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger."

If you're a left tackle in the NFL, that's the feeling you get lining up across from Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

On a defense filled with players who keep offensive coordinators up at night, Ngakoue has earned his place among the most feared.

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound defender is a violent and explosive pass-rusher who has become one of the NFL's most potent defensive ends. In 2017, he finished eighth among edge defenders with at least 100 pass-rush snaps in pass-rush productivity, according to Pro Football Focus, doing most of his damage off the right side. The former third-round pick uses an explosive get-off and upfield burst, powerful hands, an uncommon ability to contort his body, and an array of moves to batter opposing blockers - with a particular fondness for the cross chop.

The cross chop was popularized by former Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali, and it's been gaining popularity among NFL pass-rushers. The move requires a high level of coordination of the feet and hands, as well as precise hand placement and timing. It's difficult to master, but when it's mastered, it can be devastating.

Of Ngakoue's 20 career sacks, nine directly resulted from his cross chop. Here's a good example of how he typically uses it:

On this play, Ngakoue is aligned wide as the right defensive end with an angled stance toward the ball. After the ball's snapped, he explodes out of his stance and takes two steps directly toward the left tackle. Before continuing, let's take a closer look at how this affects the left tackle's pass set:

Notice how the left tackle initially looks to take a wide set but is forced to stay tight because of Ngakoue's entry. As soon as Ngakoue identifies the left tackle's inside foot moving slightly backward, he puts his inside foot in the ground and initiates his cross chop.

As soon as the left tackle punches with his outside hand, Ngakoue explodes off his inside foot and uses his inside hand to come across his body and chop down the left tackle's outside hand. From there, Ngakoue clubs with his outside hand - which pushes the left tackle over his toes and makes him unable to recover - while getting his hips pointed toward the quarterback so he can accelerate into the pocket for the sack.

While Ngakoue was effective with the cross chop in his rookie year, savvier offensive linemen learned to neutralize his best move. In his second year, he developed a counter to go with it, which helped him pass the 10-sack mark.

Here, Ngakoue is once again aligned wide as the right defensive end for the Jaguars. His entry is the exact same as above, but he fails to get his inside hand all the way to the left tackle's outside wrist.

Instead of stopping his feet and quitting on the move, he seamlessly transitions to a rip move, ripping his inside arm upward on the left tackle's outside wrist, allowing Ngakoue to get to the left tackle's edge, turn the corner, and flatten to the quarterback.

That kind of coordination and explosiveness is rare, and it's a big reason why the Maryland product is one of the most potent pass-rushers in the NFL.

That's not to say there isn't some fine-tuning required. When he's not getting pressure, Ngakoue too often gets pushed past the apex of the pocket, leaving a gaping hole for the quarterback to escape out of.

That only makes him more frightening, though, as it shows he isn't close to his ceiling. He can reach new heights under the tutelage of Jaguars defensive line coach Marion Hobby, who has a good track record of developing defensive ends at the collegiate level.

The more refined Ngakoue gets, the more fearful opposing offensive tackles will become.