Yannick Ngakoue trade could be better than Jaguars originally expected

The Jaguars can still seriously benefit from the Yannick Ngakoue trade.

Despite trading away one of their best players, Jacksonville isn’t completely at a loss, depending on how the season finishes out— at least for other teams.

The Jaguars originally traded Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings just before the start of the 2020 season for a 2021 second-round draft pick and a 2022 conditional fifth-round pick.

According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, the conditions of that pick include:

• The fifth-round pick becomes a fourth-round pick if Ngakoue is elected to the Pro Bowl.
  The fifth-round pick becomes a third-round pick if Ngakoue is elected to the Pro Bowl AND the Vikings win the super bowl.

Jaguars fans shouldn’t bet on the Vikings winning or even reaching the super bowl this year. But the surprising aspect of this deal is that these terms apply to the Baltimore Ravens as well since the Vikings traded Nagkoue to Baltimore nearly two months after acquiring him to begin their tank after going 1-5 in their first six games.

Ngakoue, who was a third-round draft selection in 2016, has emerged as one of the league’s best pass rushers. But earlier this year, Ngakoue made it publicly known that he wanted out of Jacksonville and requested a trade. The Jaguars franchise tagged him in March, finally dealing him in late August. This wouldn’t be the first time that a Jaguars player forced himself off of the team.

Yannick Ngakoue trade compensation now relies on Ravens’ success…

At this point, we know the Jaguars aren’t going to get much better and we can say the same for the Vikings. But the Ravens are a top-five team in the league and have a serious ability to reach the super bowl at the end of the season. The Jaguars could use whatever draft picks they can get their hands on to help further their everlasting rebuild.