3 players the Jacksonville Jaguars gave up on way too soon

1. Yannick Ngakoue, defensive end/edge

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what makes Yannick Ngakoue such a tradeable commodity to NFL teams. Ngakoue has really bounced around the league since the Jaguars drafted him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft (69th overall).

The Jaguars traded Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings for second-and-fifth-round picks in 2020. Just two months later, Ngakoue was traded by the Vikings to the Ravens for third-and-fifth-round picks. After playing the 2020 season with the Ravens and Vikings, Ngakoue wound up signing a free agent deal with the Raiders in 2021.

After just one season with the Raiders, Ngakoue was traded to the Colts for cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. He wound up notching 27 pressures, 16 QB hits, and 9.5 sacks with the Colts this past season and as of the time of this post being written, he’s still looking for a team for the 2023 season.

The fact that Ngakoue is still searching for a team is rather staggering. Stats can be misleading, but pass rush productivity has never been an issue for Ngakoue, who obviously started off his NFL career white hot with the Jaguars. Over time, however, he’s proven to be consistent. Ngakoue has 65 career sacks in the NFL, which is tied with Chris Jones for the 20th most among active NFL players. Ngakoue and Jones both came into the league in 2016, and Jones is considered one of the most dominant forces in football.

Ngakoue has more sacks than his 2016 classmate Joey Bosa. He averages 10 sacks per 17 games along with 21 QB hits per 17 games.

The Jaguars may have gotten the “best” out of Ngakoue with a Pro Bowl season in 2017, but pass rushers don’t grow on trees and this is a guy who could help a lot of NFL teams.