Yannick Ngakoue Traded to Vikings

Our long, national nightmare is over. And by nightmare I mean "holdout" and by national I mean "Duval County." The Jaguars have agreed to trade holdout franchise-tagged defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to Minnesota for a second-round pick and a conditional pick that will end up somewhere between the third and fifth rounds. Amazingly, Ngakoue is taking a pay cut to make this work, dropping his salary from the franchise tender of $17.8 million to something around $13 million. That's how badly he wanted out of Jacksonville. Now the Vikings will work on a new contract for him.

So much for the big breakout from the No. 1 name on our Top Prospects 2020 list, Ifeadi Odenigbo.

View Full Article

Comments

13 comments, Last at 05 Sep 2020, 11:14am

#1 by Joey-Harringto… // Aug 30, 2020 - 12:50pm

This seems counter to the Vikings' offseason philosphy of dumping expensive veterans and building up again through draft, but I guess Spielman thought the chances of getting a player with similar talent/upside in a position of need with the draft picks they gave up were slim.  Also, if he doesn't work out, they can let him hit the market...if he does, they can just extend him and keep him.  I wonder, even with the pay cut, if they have to dump some other expensive and under-performing veteran to make cap room (?Reilly Rieff)

Points: 0

#7 by dank067 // Aug 31, 2020 - 7:44pm

I was a little bit surprised too when I heard they were paying a second to possibly just rent him in a season where they're sort of rebooting, but since they would very likely get a compensatory 3rd back in case they don't re-sign him I guess the "rental fee" here is just the value of a 2nd minus the 3rd - not bad at all. And yep, starting to look like Reiff is on his way out.

Points: 0

#9 by Joey-Harringto… // Sep 01, 2020 - 3:30pm

Rieff is apparently no fool, and agreed to re-structure his deal.  Damn, as a Lions fan I'm both dismayed and jealous of how smart and pro-active the Vikings front office is.

Points: 0

#11 by Willsy // Sep 04, 2020 - 5:43am

You mean no wins? Isn't four appearances a reasonable effort at least?

Points: 0

#13 by Joey-Harringto… // Sep 05, 2020 - 11:14am

Yea, even if we re-set the timeline to post turn of the century, the Vikings franchise accomplishments will still come out way ahead.

Points: 0

#2 by RevBackjoy // Aug 30, 2020 - 1:15pm

My first impression is that this is a good move. Not a huge haul to give up for a Pro Bowl-level player- and the Vikings, with their two draft picks per round average, can certainly afford to surrender a few picks. Yannick is a comparable replacement for Everson Griffen, and he's 7 years younger. He + Danielle Hunter will make up quite a formidable pair of edge rushers. I wonder if they would have picked him up if he insisted on his 2019 salary, given their tight cap situation. Either way, getting him for a $4M+ pay cut is very crafty. SKOL!

Points: 0

#3 by billprudden // Aug 30, 2020 - 1:38pm

I'd love to see their plan to get most of this team under next year's shrinking COVID cap. 

Guess I will, in March...

Points: 0

#4 by Shylo // Aug 30, 2020 - 2:00pm

Sometimes I hate my team being in the same division as the Jags, congrats to the Vikings.

Points: 0

#5 by TheAnonymousCo… // Aug 30, 2020 - 2:21pm

Hunter hasn't practiced since camp opened.  The team are not saying anything about his status, but a late move for an expensive edge rusher seems ominous in that regard...

Points: 0

#6 by ImNewAroundThe… // Aug 30, 2020 - 9:00pm

I encourage everyone to vote for Yannick in the Pro Bowl!

But it's interesting also how they still have no CBs. Pretty ballsy to get another edge when you're starting CBs look to be pretty unknown (like 9 career starts between em) and in this economy...pass rush might not matter. Suppose it's better compensation then what Clowney got.

Post week 1: They need CBs BADLY

Points: 0

#8 by andrew // Sep 01, 2020 - 9:03am

I still think Odenigbo has a decent chance to break out.    One, Hunter has not been practicing for some reason, and two, I think the vikings will rotate them...

Points: 0

#12 by Willsy // Sep 04, 2020 - 5:47am

The Vikes rotate a lot and Odenigbo apparently has taken a lot of snaps inside as the Vikes were hoping to resign Griffin. 

Since the CB portion is thin they are going to want to stuff the outside throwing lanes as much as possible and two edge rushers are at least a start. 

Points: 0

Save 10%
& Support Aaron
Support Football Outsiders' independent media and Aaron Schatz. Use promo code SCHATZ to save 10% on any FO+ membership and give half the cost of your membership to tip Aaron.