Jaguars Place Franchise Tag On DE Yannick Ngakoue

The Jaguars are placing the franchise tag on fourth-year defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, league soures told ESPN on Monday. This allows Jacksonville to get something in return for Ngakoue if they ultimately decide to trade him.

Ngakoue addressed his contract situation on Twitter early Monday morning.

Ngakoue was reportedly asking for a long-term deal before last season but the two parties couldn’t come to an agreement and the 24-year-old subsequently skipped a majority of OTAs and the mandatory minicamp. During training camp, Ngakoue sat out the first 11 days and was fined $528,650 and ultimately made $2.02 million after the team repealed the fines. League sources say a multi-year deal was discussed that included a salary of $19 million per year, but Ngakoue was hoping for $22 million. The franchise tag is valued at around $19.3 million.

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He was originally a third-round pick in 2016, but has made his mark as one of the best young defensive ends in the game today. He departs Jacksonville as the franchise’s second all-time sack leader with 37.5 and 14 forced fumbles which ranks fourth-best among defensive ends since 2016, according to NFL Stats. In 2019, Ngakoue recorded eight sacks and a career-high 41 tackles and tied his career-high with 13 tackles for a loss.

Article by Frank DeLorenzo