JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In three seasons Yannick Ngakoue has racked up 29.5 sacks and 10 forced fumbles. This offseason the Jaguars can reward their young defensive end with a long term contract.
Position: Defensive End
2018 Stats: 28 tackles, 9.5 sacks
2018 season in review: Coming off a Pro Bowl season in 2017, opposing teams paid more attention to Ngakoue this season. Often times he found a tight end or running back staying in to help prevent him from getting to the quarterback.
Early on it worked. The former third round pick only had two sacks in the Jaguars first four games. Like all great players he made adjustments. The sack numbers weren’t quite as robust as 2017 (12 sacks), but Ngakoue still was a disruptive force in 2018.
Yannick Ngakoue wants to be a captain next season. pic.twitter.com/BOxw2whyKZ
— John Reid (@JohnReid64) December 31, 2018
Status for 2019: Decision time. Ngakoue is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is slated to make just over $1 million next season. His level of production has clearly demonstrated that he should be paid more.
The issue is that Jaguars will have to free up some salary cap space to extend Ngakoue. In recent years fellow pass rushers Melvin Ingram and Jason Pierre Paul have signed extensions in the range of 4-years, $62-64 million with $32-34 million guaranteed.
The Jaguars could also allow Ngakoue to play out his rookie deal and then franchise tag him in 2020. That would be a much more expensive option.
Either way Ngakoue is due for a large pay day in the near future.