Yannick Ngakoue tells the Jaguars he doesn’t want to play in Jacksonville

The Jaguars have more heavy lifting to do now that Yannick Ngakoue has decided he no longer wants to play in Jacksonville.

Finally, the message was clear. After months of speculation about his future and cryptic tweets that left many fans wondering what his stance would be, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue has told the front office that he no longer wants to be part of the organization.

Ngakoue once again took to Twitter to make his announcement. As a result of his decision, Adam Schefter and Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com have reported the front office intends to use the franchise tag for Ngakoue, potentially to seek a trade for the former Pro Bowl player.

At least the front office and general David Caldwell know how to proceed with the continuation of the offseason.

"“The franchise tag carries an approximate salary of $19.3 million in 2020,” DiRocco writes. Ngakoue, who turns 25 on March 31, indicated late last season that he was unlikely to play under the tag, which would mean a potential holdout if he and the Jaguars are unable to come to terms on a long-term contract.”"

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Ngakoue has been one of the more successful players in Jaguars’ history and is a dominant pass-rush specialist. The soon-to-be fifth-year player out of Maryland has 37.5 sacks in his time in black and teal and has considered a master of the strip-sack.

He also has forced 14 fumbles, which is fourth in the NFL over that span behind.

Caldwell has been stating all offseason he and the team’s front office wants Ngakoue to remains with the franchise and would do whatever it took to make that happen. Evidently, the two sides do not think alike. Contract negotiations broke down before last year’s training camp when the team offered him a short-term deal of what was reported to be $19M per season.

Within the last week, it has been reported by DiRocco and other sources that Ngakoue wants a deal somewhere in the $22M per season range, which may be well out of the Jaguars’ financial ability.

The team still has Josh Allen to play in place of Ngakoue and Calais Campbell, two defensive linemen who were Pro Bowl players in 2019.