To his likely dismay, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue remains a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
General manager Dave Caldwell said after the first round of Thursday’s NFL draft that the Jaguars didn’t get the trade offer they wanted.
“We weren’t able to get a trade,” Caldwell said on a conference call. “Actually, weren’t even really able to get an offer.”
The Jaguars reportedly were seeking at least a first-round draft pick as compensation for Ngakoue, 25. The Jaguars selected him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and he was named to the Pro Bowl the following season.
On Monday, Ngakoue took to social media to lash out at the Jaguars, sparring with the owner’s son over the team’s failure to trade him.
To my new future team whomever it may be. I can’t wait to bring great discipline, integrity, and work ethic to that new city. Wherever I may land your going to get the hardest working defensive end in the league !🏁
— Yannick Ngakoue (@YannickNgakoue) April 20, 2020
He held out from training camp last summer when Tom Coughlin, then the executive vice president of football operations, ended talks for a contract extension. The team slapped him with the non-exclusive franchise tag in March, which would pay him almost $18 million this season, but he hasn’t signed and is pushing for a trade.
Now, with the first round in the books, Caldwell said the chance of trading Ngakoue is dwindling.
“So, I think his options are very limited at this point in time,” Caldwell said. “We’ll welcome him back with open arms when he’s ready to come back and we look forward to it. Yann, for the people on this call and who have been around him, realize he is a tremendous player, tremendous person, has always been first-class in everything he’s done here in the locker room and through his time here, the first four years of his contract.”
Caldwell said he understands, in part, some of the frustrations of Ngakoue.
“Obviously, he feels things have not gone the way he wanted and, in some aspects, he may have a point,” Caldwell said. “But we put our best foot forward not once, but twice. I hope he sees the light that Jacksonville is a good spot and it could, at the end of the day, be his only option.”
Ngakoue notched eight sacks in 15 games last season and has 37.5 in 63 career games with the Jaguars.
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
