Jacksonville Jaguars: The Yannick Nagkoue saga must end now
By David Levin
After months of using social media to try to force the Jacksonville Jaguars to trade him, the situation with defensive end Yannick Ngakoue must end now.
The biggest issue with any team that makes a deal for Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue is the organization that m brings him will not only have to compensate the Jaguars in the way of draft picks, but that front office will ultimately have to work out a long-term deal with the pass rusher.
Because of the situation, it becomes tougher to grant Ngakoue, who took to Twitter on Monday to not only call out the team’s front office but to get in a war of words with team executive Tony Khan, the son of owner Shad Khan.
This situation is past the point of no return, which ultimately signals the end of any chance of both sides working out a deal. Ngakoue has stated since March he did not want to work out a long-term deal with Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell. The Jaguars, in turn, slapped the franchise tag on him, making it a more difficult situation and drawing a line in the sand.
More from Jacksonville Jaguars News
- Jacksonville Jaguars have a rat problem, get poor marks in NFLPA team report card
- Jaguars News: Don’t expect them to be pursuing free agents
- Jacksonville Jaguars unlikely to pursue Carson Wentz despite Doug Pederson connection
- Jaguars RB Travis Etienne expected to have bigger impact in 2023
- 5 bonafide stars from the Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 season
Now, fans watch to see which side moves first. The Jaguars want at least a first-round draft pick in return as part of a trade deal. Ngakoue could play on the one-year, $17.8M deal in Jacksonville while the two sides can find an adequate trade package. In reality, it looks like the Jaguars have leverage here, but this is a no-win situation at the moment.
Part of the problem in trying to work out a trade is the market at the present time, what the Jaguars feel is a fair offer and players like Jadeveon Clowney are still out there in free agency and have not signed a deal anywhere.
Truth be told, there isn’t as much interest in Ngakoue as the player or the Jaguars had hoped.
"“Ngakoue’s battle with the Jaguars began in July when then-executive VP of football operations Tom Coughlin abruptly broke off negotiations with Ngakoue and his agent, Ari Nissim,” Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com wrote.The Jaguars reportedly offered Ngakoue a deal that would pay him $19 million annually, but Ngakoue turned it down, and he played last season — after an 11-day training camp holdout — for $2.025 million, a considerable bargain for a player who racked up 29.5 sacks in three seasons.”"
There are two days until the NFL Draft. It looks like nothing will materialize between the Jaguars and a suitor before the first night of the selection process. A team looking for a pass rusher must determine if it can find one in the Draft or take a chance on bringing in Ngakoue or another veteran to fill the void.
There could be other teams that call the Jaguars looking to make a deal during the draft process. Teams that have been connected to Ngakour this offseason have been the Giants, Jets, Browns, Vikings, Seahawks, Eagles, Dolphins and Bills.