Yannick Ngakoue wants out of JAX and Seahawks should trade for him

The Seattle Seahawks are in desperate need for edge rushers. They didn’t have a single player amass 5 sacks last season. Should Seattle make a move for the soon-to-be franchise tagged Yannick Ngakoue?

Yannick Ngakoue has been a beacon of consistency over his first 4 years in the league. He has amassed between 8-12 sacks every year, with a pressure rate of 10% or higher in each of the past 3 seasons. He has the quickness and twitch to be a prototypical LEO in the Seahawks defense.

With the Jaguars reportedly planning on using the franchise tag on their budding star. It appears the Jaguars may have broken the trust between player and team. Below is a tweet he sent out this morning.

This could provide the Seahawks a golden opportunity to make a move for a player who is tailor-made for their defensive scheme. He has been a menace rushing the passer for years. However, a new aspect of his game has been his ability to efficiently defend against the run. Last season, he had a career-high in tackles for a loss (13) and forced fumbles (4). His 13 tackles for a loss are tied for the 5th most in the NFL last season.

Seattle wouldn’t invest in Frank Clark partially due to the contract he demanded. However, I suspect it had more to due with his inability to effectively stop the run and his high percentage of missed tackles. If there is one thing we see with Ngakoue, he is a complete edge rusher and is just now entering his prime at 24.

If Seattle decides to spend on an edge rusher, perhaps it should be Ngakoue. He is younger than Clowney (27), has less of an injury history (Clowney has missed an average of 3.5 games per season where Ngakoue has missed 1 game in 4 years). It can also be argued that Ngakoue is becoming just as complete of a defensive end, all while being more effective against the pass. Both players will require near-identical money, perhaps Seattle should pull the trigger on Ngakoue as opposed to re-signing Clowney.

There are a few issues that will likely make Seattle pause on pulling the trigger, however. The first issue, with Ngakoue being franchise-tagged, a trade will have to occur. I can guarantee you this trade won’t be cheap either. It will take at least Seattle’s number 27 pick in this year’s draft, but likely more.

The second issue is the contract he will require to stay long term. There were reports several weeks ago that he wanted to eclipse the marks of DeMarcus Lawrence and Frank Clark from last summer. His ideal figure was around $22 million per year. So, to make this trade, Seattle would have to give up a haul of draft picks just to turn around and pay the player a king’s ransom. It’s not exactly ideal.

Let’s play some devil’s advocate. Let’s go through the exercise and see what it would take to land Ngakoue in Seattle. The first issue to handle would be the trade. The Jaguars should be in fire sale mode (they’re not, but should be). A trade for the star defensive end should look something like the Frank Clark’s deal made last summer.

The second issue to iron out would be the contract. Ngakoue made it clear that he wants long term security over a one-year franchise tag. I wonder if Seattle could convince him to lower his per year price tag slightly with more guarantee’s worked into the contract. This is what a deal could look like if this came to fruition:

Player:    Yannick Ngakoue

Terms:       4yr, $82 million

Signing Bonus: $26 million

Guarantee: $60 million

Avg Salary: $20.5 million

This is a win-win-win-win. The Seahawks win by getting an elite edge rusher to build the defensive line around. Jacksonville wins with a newly acquired draft haul to help the rebuild. Yannick Ngakoue wins with the most guarantees in his contract for an edge rusher, ever. Finally, Russell Wilson wins by gets the star power he has begged Seattle to target this off-season.