Jaguars GM Says They’ve Received No Trade Offers For Yannick Ngakoue

Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell told reporters after round one of the draft that they’ve received no trade offers for disgruntled DE Yannick Ngakoue.

Caldwell also said the report of them being close to a deal with the Raiders was not accurate. 

“No, it wasn’t,” Caldwell said of the reported trade with the Raiders, per Mike Garafolo. “As far as that goes, I try not to comment too much on the situation. I try to be very pragmatic about it. Truth be told, we exercised the franchise tender. We weren’t able to get a trade. Actually weren’t even really able to get an offer. So I think his options are very limited at this point in time. We’ll welcome him back with open arms when he’s ready to come back and we look forward to it.

“Yann, the people on this call and who have been around him realize he is a tremendous player, tremendous person, has always been first-call in everything he’s done here in the locker room and through his time here, the first four years of his contract. Obviously, he feels things have not gone the way he wanted and, in some aspects, he may have a point. But we put our best foot forward not once, but twice. I hope he sees the light Jacksonville is a good spot and it could, at the end of the day, be his only option.”

Jacksonville has been reportedly asking for at least a first-round pick to move on from Ngakoue. However, the first round is over and the best they could hope for at this point is a future first, which seems unlikely, considering that the lack of serious interest up to this point. 

Trade talks had stalled up until recently, leading to a blowup between Ngakoue and team co-owner Tony Khan on Twitter earlier this week. 

Reports from Thursday said the Jaguars had been in contact with the Raiders about a trade for Ngakoue, but Jacksonville’s asking price was simply too high. Beyond that, Ngakoue’s looking for a new deal on top of any trade compensation. 

The Jaguars officially used their franchise tag on Ngakoue, which will cost around $17.9 million fully guaranteed for the 2020 season. However, Ngakoue has yet to sign the tender. 

Ngakoue, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Jaguars back in 2016. He played out the final year of his four-year, $3.48 million contract and made a base salary of $834,269 for the 2019 season.

In 2019, Ngakoue appeared in 15 games for the Jaguars and recorded 41 tackles, eight sacks, an interception, a defensive touchdown, four forced fumbles, a recovery and six passes defended. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 36 edge rusher out of 107 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Ngakoue as the news is available.