The Jacksonville Jaguars have finally found a new home for star pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue.
The Jaguars have agreed to trade Yannick Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for draft picks, ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported. One pick is a second-rounder, while the other is a conditional fifth-round pick that could go as high as a third.
Conditions on fifth-round pick that Minnesota is trading to Jacksonville for DE Yannick Ngakoue, sources tells ESPN:
It becomes a fourth-round pick if Ngakoue goes to the Pro Bowl this season.
It becomes a third if Ngakoue goes to Pro Bowl AND Vikings win the Super Bowl. https://t.co/YBTRlGxrMn
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 30, 2020
With the trade, the Jaguars now have eight picks — including two first-rounders — in the 2021 draft. They will have plenty of capital in the event that they want to trade up for a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.
Ngakoue was holding out for either a trade or long-term contract extension after the Jaguars used the franchise tag on him. The 25-year-old got into a heated Twitter exchange with a Jags executive back in April over what he perceived to be the team intentionally keeping him in limbo.
With the addition of Ngakoue, the Vikings should have one of the best defenses in football this season. Ngakoue joins fellow pass-rusher Danielle Hunter, who had 14.5 sacks in each of the past two seasons. Ngakoue has averaged more than nine sacks per year in his first four seasons in the NFL.
