Finally, the Jacksonville Jaguars have pulled the trigger on a deal to trade Yannick Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings. Now, for the process to become official, all he simply has to do is sign his franchise tender and it will be a new chapter for all parties.
Once that happens, the Jags will get a 2021 second-round pick, giving them four picks in the first two rounds of next year’s draft. That would put them in a better situation quantity wise than they were in 2020, where they had two first-rounders and one second.
The Jaguars now have four picks in the first two rounds of the 2021 Draft: Their own first- and second-rounders, the Rams' first-rounder and the Vikings' second-rounder. And they had 3 of the Top 42 (CJ Henderson, K'Lavon Chaisson, Laviska Shenault) in April.
The rebuild is on.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 30, 2020
The Jags will also be getting a conditional 2022 fifth-round pick that could be a fourth-round pick if he goes to the Pro Bowl, or a third-rounder if he goes to the Pro Bowl and the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
In totality, the Jaguars will have 10 picks in next year’s draft. That would come after having 12 this year (all of which the Jags kept) and their 2021 list of selections would be as follows:
- Their 2021 first-round selection
- The Los Angeles Rams’ 2021 first-round selection (for Jalen Ramsey)
- Their 2021 second-round selection
- The Vikings’ 2021 second-round selection (for Ngakoue)
- Their 2021 third-round selection
- Their 2021 fourth-round selection
- The Los Angeles Rams’ 2021 fourth-round selection (for Ramsey)
- Their 2021 fifth-round selection
- Their 2021 sixth-round selection
- Their 2021 seventh-round selection
While it cost the Jags some young Pro Bowlers, Dave Caldwell or whoever is the Jags general manager in 2021 will have a lot to build with. Additionally, they will have a lot of cap space available next year as Over the Cap has them projected at $89,656,498, but that’s with a projected base amount of $215 million. With the salary cap set to decrease to a minimum of $175 million in 2021 (currently at $198.2 million) due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Jags at the most will have to deduct $23.2 million from OTC’s total. Still, it’s clear they will be in good shape financially.
When taking this all into consideration, the Jags could be back on their feet rather quickly. However, most would agree that it’s unfortunate they had to lose the amount of talent they did over the span of the last two seasons.