The Jacksonville Jaguars concluded their 2019 season with a 38-20 loss over the Indianapolis Colts, ending what was a lackluster season on a high note. The media was able to catch up with several players after the victory including pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who is one of the Jags’ biggest question marks heading into the 2020 season.
Of course, with his rookie contract now up, Ngakoue was asked about his future as a Jag and he made three things clear: business is business, he’s learned a lot about the organization, and he’s not sure what the future holds.
Ngakoue, who is now a pending free-agent, has long displayed his desire for a new extension, however, the Jags have failed to lock him up despite being one of their best players. In Sunday’s game against the Colts, he put an exclamation point on his 2019 campaign by causing a strip-sack on quarterback Jacoby Brissett, marking his fourth forced fumble of the season.
After the play, he headed to the sidelines to reiterate his message from the summer just in case ownership forgot.
After Sunday’s game, several of Ngakoue’s teammates vouched for him, including team captain Calais Campbell, who praised his teammate’s passion for the game. Rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew II also had kind words for Ngakoue, stating that he’d like to see the star pass-rusher return, too.
Up until this point, the Jags have severely mismanaged Ngakoue’s situation and it would be wise of them to not follow that trend this year as they are in no predicament to let a marquee pass-rusher and leader like him go with a rebuild coming up. With Tom Coughlin gone, maybe things could go more fluidly this offseason and a deal can be ironed out in the spring of 2020 at the earliest.
