Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said he wanted full attendance for the team’s offseason conditioning program, and while that realistically won’t happen, it appears one of his top players entering a contract year is at the team’s facility ready to work towards improvement.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue was present for the kickoff of the offseason workout program despite being on a contract year.
Ngakoue, 24, has been nothing short of solid since the Jags selected him in the third round of 2016’s draft, averaging just under 10 sacks a season. He certainly didn’t have to show up for the voluntary part of the offseason, but when considering how hard of a worker he is, his attendance certainly isn’t surprising.
In 2017, the young edge rusher was named to his first Pro Bowl after recording a career-high 12 sacks and 30 tackles. In 2018, teams began to key in on him after showing growth in 2016-17, which slowed him down a bit earlier in the year. But in the end, he was able to make 28 tackles and 9.5 sacks.
Earlier in the year, Jags general manager Dave Caldwell said the Jags will turn their attention to Ngakoue’s and Jalen Ramsey’s contract situations after the draft. However, they may have to clear out more cap space as the rookie pool will only leave them with just over $5 million in cap space.
