Maybe Yannick Ngakoue is just messing with Eagles fans. Maybe he’s just a big Eagles fan himself.
But it certainly seems like he keeps dropping hints about where he wants to play next season.
Ngakoue, who turned 25 today, has said publicly that he’s ready to leave Jacksonville and wants the Jaguars to trade him. On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo said the Jaguars have heard from several teams but want a large return.
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That led to this tweet from Ngakoue.
And then not long after, he posted a photo of Brian Dawkins to his Instagram story.
This is not the first time he’s posted Eagles-related photos to his Instagram story this month. Check out what he did back on March 19:
So maybe Ngakoue is just trolling Eagles fans … or maybe he’s trying to send out signals that he wants to play for the Eagles. He has also liked several Eagles-related tweets on his Twitter account. (Not exactly solid evidence but he’s at least aware of what he’s doing.)
We’ve spent plenty of time this offseason going over what a trade for Ngakoue would mean for the Eagles. They certainly don’t want to give up their first-round pick and it’s unclear if the Jaguars would trade away their stud pass rusher for anything less.
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And then there’s the money.
For now, the Jaguars already used their franchise tag on Ngakoue, which means he’ll get paid just under $18 million in 2020 if he plays on it. That would suck up a lot of the Eagles’ remaining cap space, but they’d have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal.
If the Eagles were to trade for a player like Ngakoue, they’d most likely want to have a long-term deal already worked out. They probably wouldn’t give up that much draft equity for a one-year rental.
In his first four NFL seasons, Ngakoue has 37 1/2 sacks and he did all that before his 25th birthday. He would be a great addition for the Eagles, who always value talent on their defensive line. The Birds are bringing back Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett for 2020 but the Eagles aren’t married to either past this season.
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