Yannick Ngakoue Makes 'NFL Live' Appearance to Explain What Went Wrong in Jacksonville

The Jacksonville Jaguars and star pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue have been on their way to a messy divorce all offseason. Ngakoue regularly took to his Twitter account over the last few weeks to ask for a trade or for the team to let him leave in free agency, and the Jaguars responded by franchise-tagging him. They've yet to find a trade partner after the news broke their starting price was a first-round pick and additional assets.

Ngakoue clearly has no intention of signing the franchise tag. He took to NFL Live on ESPN today to explain just went wrong.

In summary, the Jaguars failed to offer him an agreeable extension last offseason. Ngakoue saw this as a reflection of their commitment to keeping him around, and wants to leave. He says there are no hard feelings, although I would argue his decision to appear on television and put on what essentially amounted to a job interview may indicate otherwise. Add that to his desire to play for a winning culture, and, well...

It's hard to see this situation coming to a close soon. No one will give Jacksonville the haul they're looking for with their lack of leverage. If they're willing to give up Ngakoue for something similar to the return the Texans got for Jadeveon Clowney, they can make a deal. But like the Clowney trade, that would be a failure to recoup anywhere near equal value for the player of Ngakoue's caliber.

Based on recent history, the best the Jags could hope for is a second-round pick straight-up for Ngakoue, like the Chiefs-Niners trade in 2018 that sent Dee Ford to San Francisco. But for a franchise once again in transition, the sooner they can put an end to all this, the better. Ideally before the NFL Draft later this month.