The Buffalo Bills don’t have to worry about the upcoming deadline approaching NFL teams in just over a week. In eight days, the deadline for franchise tagged players to get a multi-year extension will be up.
While the Bills aren’t currently in that boat, other teams, such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, are. The player the Jags have tagged is defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.
Most in Florida aren’t banking on Ngakoue returning. He’s a player that’s been very vocal about wanting to move on this offseason. Because of that, our friends at Jaguars Wire tabbed three teams the Jags should look into moving the 25-year-old to. Who appeared? The Bills.
Here’s the explanation for the Bills and Ngakoue:
The fact that the Bills paid 32-year old Mario Addison via a three-year deal says a lot about what they needed this offseason. Their other starting defensive end, Jerry Hughes will be turning 32 next month as well. Veteran Trent Murphy will also be joining the 30-club this season.
Simply put, this means the Bills need some youth at a premium position to pair with second-round pick AJ Epenesa. At 25-years of age, Ngakoue could be his partner in crime for many years to come.
With $20.4 million in cap space, Ngakoue would be a tight squeeze for the Bills but a new deal could lower that figure. As for the compensation, again, fans should be doubtful for a first-round pick. Then again, the Bills have shown they aren’t scared to be aggressive as they recently gave up a first-rounder plus more to the Minnesota Vikings for receiver Stefon Diggs.
While tabbed a suitor, the Bills might truthfully be the least likely to pull off such a move. Ngakoue is a talented player and someone the Bills should want to add. But there’s too many reasons for Buffalo not to.
The Bills would be in a tight squeeze for the salary cap to add Ngakoue. Then in terms of other compensation, yes, the Bills gave up a first-round pick for Diggs, but doing so again seems unlikely. Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane has often mentioned his desire to hang onto first-round picks, so unless we’re looking at a mid-to-late rounder, count the Bills out of this race. And even then, maybe still count them out.
But if this did happen, the Bills could make one move to financially fit Ngakoue’s contract: Cut Murphy. Even if the Bills don’t make a move for Ngakoue, Murphy’s still a cut candidate because the team could save $8 million against the salary cap in doing so. But past 2020, things get dicey.
Per Spotrac, Ngakoue’s 2020 cap hit is near $17 million. If Buffalo’s traded for him, they’d likely want to sign him to an extension, but that’ll be difficult with only $20.6M is cap space slated for 2021 currently. Buffalo has to eventually get current pieces under contract extensions as well, such as Matt Milano and Dion Dawkins.
And circling back to the current roster Buffalo sports, Hughes and Addison could be in-line to start for the Bills for the next year or two. Successful pass rusher have been known to play into their mid-30s, a tandem which, again, would include a youthful Epenesa.
Unfortunately for those vying for the Bills to add Ngakoue, the cons outweigh the pros pretty easily.
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