The Jacksonville Jaguars will be returning to their facility on July 28 for training camp, but in all likelihood, at least one star will be missing. That player’s name is Yannick Ngakoue.
A franchise tag situation to watch approaching July 15: Jaguars DE Yannick Ngakoue. I’m told nothing has changed with his stance – he still desires a trade – and doesn’t have immediate plans to sign the tag. This could bleed well into training camp, absent deal with a new team.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 1, 2020
Per ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler, there hasn’t been a change in the young pass-rusher’s stance of wanting to be traded. Additionally, he has no desire to sign the non-exclusive tag anytime soon, so it looks as though both parties might be preparing for a stand-off.
On March 31, Ngakoue announced that he felt his time was up via social media due to how contract talks had been going with the Jags. Not too soon after that, they tagged him.
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Before the draft, Ngakoue, who was seemingly growing impatient, called out Shad Khan’s son and front office member, Tony Khan, over social media by demanding a trade. After exchanging several tweets, Khan ended the exchange by saying that no trade would happen until the compensation was right by the front office’s standards.
During the draft, general manager Dave Caldwell told the media that the Jags weren’t able to get an offer during the draft. Caldwell also added that he believed 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.”
The one-year tag has a guaranteed value of $17,788,000 waiting for Ngakoue if signed. The deadline for a long-term deal for the Jags, or anyone that wants to make a trade for him, will occur on July 15. That basically puts the Jags in a tricky situation where they probably need to move fast if they want decent value for him — that is if he’s not going to play for them. Otherwise, the offers from that point might not be all that enticing because teams would be getting him as a one-year rental after the deadline.