Moore: Are Seahawks comfortable trading for Ngakoue after his tweets?
Apr 21, 2020, 10:37 AM | Updated: 10:51 am
(Getty)
You probably heard about Monday’s Twitter feud between Jacksonville pass rusher and potential Seahawks trade target Yannick Ngakoue and Tony Khan, Jaguars senior vice president of football administration and technology.
More from Moore: Hawks should draft Hurts to back up Wilson
Ngakoue doesn’t want to play in Jacksonville anymore. He has told everyone how he feels via social media. We all knew how he felt before he went completely nutball on Monday, even posting a clown emoji in reference to Khan.
And because of that, I wonder if you even want the guy in Seattle anymore. For the longest time, I’ve liked the idea of acquiring Ngakoue, even suggesting that the Seahawks should give up a first-round pick and a second-rounder if that’s what it takes to pry him away from the Jags.
That’s how desperate I’d be to beef up my pass rush if I were Seahawks GM John Schneider. But are you so desperate that you’d take on a player who might be happy initially with his change of scenery only to turn into a malcontent down the road?
Once a malcontent, always a malcontent? Maybe not, maybe so. The thing is with Ngakoue, on Monday he ushered in the possibility. Perhaps he’s just extremely frustrated and acted out in an immature way. Lord knows most of us did some stupid stuff in our 20’s that we regret now.
What Ngakoue did was really entertaining but really stupid at the same time. His exchange with Khan didn’t help his hopes to get out of Jacksonville. It reduced his value, and the Jaguars aren’t just going to give him up. They got two first-round picks from the Rams for Jalen Ramsey last year, indicating that they’re not the Houston Texans when it comes to parting with terrific players.
It seems pretty simple to me. If you’re as unhappy as Ngakoue is, he should just talk to Jacksonville executives in person or over the phone, not in a public forum. Better yet, he should let his agent do his talking for him. I don’t even know who his agent is, but he’s got to be pulling his hair out right now over Ngakoue’s prolonged temper tantrum. He must feel like Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire.”
Ngakoue’s agent must have finally gotten through to him Monday afternoon. That’s when Ngakoue quit trashing Khan and tweeted: “To my new future team, I can’t wait to bring great discipline, integrity and work ethic to that new city. Wherever I may land, you’re going to get the hardest working defensive end in the league!”
Talk about a lame attempt at damage control, as if we can’t see that he was instructed to write those 140 characters.
Monday on Bob, Dave and Moore we talked to Michael DiRocco, who covers the Jaguars for ESPN.com, and he said Ngakoue’s a good kid who isn’t viewed as a disruptive presence in the locker room.
I still like the thought of Ngakoue in a Seahawks’ uniform more than Jadeveon Clowney. Ngakoue’s younger, more of a pure pass-rusher, and my favorite part about him is his playmaking ability – he’s forced 14 fumbles in his four-year career.
But I would only take him on as a one-year rental at this point, which increases the chances that we could see the malcontent Ngakoue again. He is playing on a $17 million franchise-tag salary in 2020 but wants an extension averaging $20 million a year.
And the problem with taking him on as a rental, that also lowers what you’re willing to give the Jaguars in a trade, which lowers the probability of getting an agreement.