The franchise tagging period in the NFL is getting underway. Among one of the first names to drop in terms of players getting that designation was Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. A player that’s been on the radar of Bills observers for some time.
Ngakoue was slated to be a free agent before getting the tag. He’s expressed his desire to play elsewhere, so a prospective new team will have to trade for him.
Could that team be the Bills? Pro Football Focus wants it to be.
The football analytics folks tabbed 10 trades they want to see go down in the NFL earlier this week. Among them was the Bills grabbing the 24-year-old from the Jags:
It’s a fit that makes sense. Buffalo had one of the better defenses in the NFL last season, ending the year ranked fourth in expected points allowed per play. But in many ways, it was a situation where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. The Bills could stand to add a young, elite pass-rusher this offseason. Ngakoue certainly fits that bill (pun intended).
Pun intended indeed. If the Bills signed Ngakoue, he’d likely be replacing Shaq Lawson, who’s slated to become a free agent like Ngakoue was. While Lawson is a stout run defender, his pass rush as a former first-round pick has never been there.
This past season, Lawson set a career-high in sacks with 6.5. Ngakoue’s career-low in a single season is eight, which he’s done twice.
Of course, plenty of this depends on what the Bills would have to trade for him. In recent years, the price tag has been high for such deals involving a pass rusher. The Seahawks agreed to trade Clark to the Chiefs in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, a 2020 second-round pick and a swap of third-round picks in 2019. Are the Bills willing to pay such a steep price?
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