This Yannick Ngakoue addition makes the Minnesota Vikings dangerous
The long saga between Yannick Ngakoue and the Jacksonville Jaguars is reportedly over. The disgruntled defensive end finally got his wish as he the Jags have agreed to trade him to the Minnesota Vikings.
As reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Ngakoue first needs to sign his tender with Jacksonville, and the Vikings also need to work on their cap space.
Those details will be figured out which means Ngakoue finally gets his wish and will be in a new home for the 2020 season.
Yannick Ngakoue and the Jaguars will have to coordinate today when he is going to sign his tag so he can be traded to the Vikings, and Minnesota is expected to have to create more salary-cap space to fit in his contract. But Ngakoue’s time in Jacksonville is over, as he hoped. pic.twitter.com/roxgDbyLMO
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 30, 2020
For the Jaguars, this is another move with an eye on the future. They’re continuing to move players and add draft picks in return. They’re also stocking up on cap space as they have no sent Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and Ngakoue elsewhere.
For the Vikings, this is a win-now move — and a really good one at that.
Yannick Ngakoue makes the Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl LV contenders.
There will be those who scream about the cap implications and there are legitimate concerns there. Minnesota already had to release Everson Griffen and Linval Joseph in cap-saving moves and adding another young talent such as Ngakoue will only move them closer to the cap ceiling.
Still, most teams operate in that area so it’s not exactly as if the Vikings are going out on a limb here. It’s simply the price of doing business in the NFL.
As for his play on the field, Ngakoue is a great pass rusher who is more explosive than the recently released Griffen. Lining him up opposite Danielle Hunter will help the Vikings defense remain great in 2020 and that’s how this team under Mike Zimmer wins.
Minnesota won 10 games last season and while they lost some stars, they did a fantastic job replacing just about every departure. General manager Rick Spielman deserves a lot of credit for this, but he surely hopes that credit comes in the form of football in February.