The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that both general manager Dave Caldwell and coach Doug Marrone would be returning to their roles in 2020 after owner Shad Khan met with both Tuesday and throughout the previous week. After the news broke, both got back to work and had a presser for the media, which provided some details on where the team will go from here.
There was a lot to unpack from the presser but the most important nugget to take from it was that Doug Marrone and Dave Caldwell want pending free-agent edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue back on a long-term deal.
GM Dave Caldwell on @YannickNgakoue:
"That's priority #1, to make sure that he comes back to Jacksonville and he's a Jacksonville Jaguar." pic.twitter.com/1baBEtA0BS
— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) December 31, 2019
″I think you guys all know in this room how both Doug and I feel about Yannick through our conversations over the years,″ Caldwell said Tuesday. ″He is a tremendous player and even a better person. How he handled his business this year was tremendous. But I would say that’s priority No. 1 to make sure he comes back to Jacksonville and that he’s a Jacksonville Jaguar. Hopefully, we can get that done where he’s here for a long period of time.″
Ngakoue has been the topic of the last two postseason’s being that he’s one of the Jags’ best young players who they would be wise to keep being that they have a strong young nucleus of talent. In the postseason of 2018, there was what fans felt was a lackadaisical attempt to sign Ngakoue with Tom Coughlin leading the way. However, with a new power structure and Caldwell now answering only to Shad Khan, it appears the veteran general manager will look to do whatever he can to retain what looks to be his best remaining draft pick.
Ngakoue has been nothing short of phenomenal for the Jags since being drafted in the third-round of the 2016 NFL Draft. In totality, he’s managed to accumulate 122 career tackles, 37.5 career sacks (good for the second-highest total in franchise history) and has been a turnover machine with 14 career forced fumbles. Simply put, he’s been a model player for the locker room and Caldwell likely knows what has to be done to start moving away from Coughlin’s culture which felt like it was more about punishing players than rewarding them.
The first order of business will be for Caldwell to get the Jags’ cap situation right, which will involve parting ways with some key veterans and restructuring some pricey contracts. Once that’s done, the Jags should likely lay low in free-agency and focus on taking care of Ngakoue instead of burning a lot of cash on players from other teams as they’ve done in the past.
As for the contract he could be looking for, he may be looking to top Demarcus Lawrence’s five-year contract worth $105 million with $65 million guaranteed after having one of his better all-around seasons as a pass-rusher and run defender. Sure, it won’t be an easy deal to iron out, but maybe with some cap gymnastics, the Jags can finally pay a player who has earned his money accordingly.