The Chicago Bears have signed two key free agents. On Thursday according to the Canadian Press, they came to terms with defensive end Yannick Ngakoue of Washington, District of Columbia on a one-year deal worth $10.5 million, and then on Friday, signed tight end Marcedes Lewis of Los Alamitos, California, according to Shanna McCarriston of CBS Sports.
Ngakoue is joining his sixth National Football League franchise. He has previously played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, and Indianapolis Colts. In 2023 with Indy, Ngakoue played in 15 games and had 29 combined tackles (18 solo tackles and 11 assisted tackles). He had 16 quarterback hits, eight tackles for a loss, nine and a half sacks and one forced fumble.
In his career, Ngakoue has 202 combined tackles (163 solo tackles and 39 assisted tackles), 135 quarterback hits, 65 tackles for a loss, two interceptions for 32 yards and one touchdown, 13 pass deflections, 21 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries for 65 yards and one touchdown, and 65 sacks. Ngakoue’s interceptions came in Jaguars wins. The first came on October 2, 2016 in a 30-27 Jacksonville win over the Indianapolis Colts and the second came on June 20, 2019 in a 27-17 Jacksonville win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The interception against the Bengals was the only pick six of Ngakoue’s career.
Ngakoue also was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2017 with the Jaguars. That year he had six forced fumbles.
Lewis is joining his third NFL team after 12 seasons with the Jaguars from 2006 to 2017, and five seasons with the Green Bay Packers from 2018 to 2022. With Green Bay, Lewis had six catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns. For his career, Lewis has 432 catches for 5084 receiving yards and 39 touchdowns. Like Ngakoue, Lewis was selected to the Pro Bowl with the Jaguars. In 2010, he had 58 catches for 700 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches.
