While the July 15 deadline for tagged players to get a long-term deal is just over 24 hours away, there is still some hope (albeit small) that Yannick Ngakoue could be traded to another team. Per NFL insider Ian Rapoport, there are teams around the league at least looking into the situation despite the degree of difficulty it would take.
Rapoport also added that the compensation would have to be right for the Jags, something we’ve heard from Tony Khan himself this offseason.
To keep an eye on as Wed's deadline grows closer: There remains some interest around the NFL in trading for #Jaguars pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, I’m told. Would be a difficult, complicated deal to do, but not impossible. For Jax, it would have to make sense compensation-wise.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 14, 2020
This news comes after a wild roller coaster-like offseason for Ngakoue, who took social media to state that he felt his time was up in Jacksonville in late March. Despite that, the team placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him and hasn’t moved him since.
Growing frustrated with the team, he had an exchange with Jags front office member and son of Shad Khan, Tony Khan, demanding the team trade him. However, that ultimately led to nothing as the draft passed with Ngakoue still in limbo.
When asked by the media about Ngakoue after the first-round, general manager Dave Caldwell stated that the team wasn’t able to get a draft day offer and that Ngakoue’s options were “very limited” from that point on.
“I try not to comment too much on the situation; I try to be very pragmatic about it,” Caldwell said after the first round. “Truth be told, we exercised the franchise tender. We weren’t able to get a trade. We actually weren’t even really able to get an offer.”
Earlier this month, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the young pass-rusher’s stance hadn’t changed, which brings us to where we are now.
The best scenario for the Jags’ front office would be to see Ngakoue take the field this offseason under the tag, as Caldwell and coach Doug Marrone could be fired if the team doesn’t have a good season. Unfortunately, Ngakoue hasn’t shown that he plans to be a Jag in 2020, and if there are doubts on the front office’s part concerning the pass-rusher, then they may want to jump on a trade before Wednesday’s deadline.