A Potential Trade Scenario for the Giants to Acquire Edge Rusher Yannick Ngakoue

Yes, the franchise tag makes it stickier for the Giants to potentially acquire free agent edge Yannick Ngakoue, but here's one scenario that could work out for both the Giants and Jacksonville and which shouldn't cost a lot.

Giants general manager Dave Gettleman knew well before the NFL's official franchise, and transition tag window opened that the league's top pass rushers set to hit free agency would probably be franchised by their respective clubs.

And it turns out that one such pass rusher who might have very well been on Gettleman's radar, Jaguars edge Yannick Ngakoue, is indeed going to get the franchise tag, according to reports by ESPN and the NFL Network.

The tag for Ngakoue, who has 37.5 sacks and 14 forced fumbles in four seasons, will be approximately $19.3 million. But don't expect Ngakoue to accept and sign the tag quietly.

Ngakoue, according to sources, was a player the Giants were eyeballing as a potential free-agent target. The 24-year-old's production--he's recorded at least 8.0 sacks in each of his first four seasons--was undoubtedly appealing to the Giants who haven't quite been able to get consistent production out of their top pass rushers over the last several seasons.

But just because Ngakoue is destined for the franchise tag, that doesn't mean the Giants have to give up hope of potentially acquiring him. While such an acquisition wouldn't come via free agency (unless the Jaguars remove the franchise tag), the top of the draft order could be set up for the Giants to trade for the edge rusher.  

Many people will look to last year when the Texans shipped Jadaveon Clowney to Seattle in exchange for outside linebacker Jacob Martin, edge rusher Barkevious Mingo, and a third-round 2020 draft pick. But a similarly structured trade for the Giants won't happen mainly because they've already traded their third-round pick this year to the Jets for Leonard Williams.

If the Jaguars are interested in trading up in this year's draft to grab an offensive tackle or a cornerback, perhaps they could package Ngakoue and their first-round pick to the Giants to move up from No. 9 overall to the Giants' No. 4 spot in the draft.

This would not only allow the Giants to drop down a few spots but with Miami and the Chargers both (as of now) in need of a franchise quarterback, the Giants could probably still come out of the first round with an offensive tackle (a significant need) while also coming away with a potential No. 1 pass rusher.

As a bonus, by dropping down to No. 9 overall, the Giants, according to Over the Cap, would have to pay their first-round pick a projected $4.173 million versus the estimated $6.698 million cap hit that the No. 4 overall pick in the draft is projected to get.

That's roughly a $2.525 million difference, which should be more than enough to fit another veteran into the mix if the Giants want to go that way. Or, it can be money they hold aside to do contract extensions, such as potentially defensive interior Dalvin Tomlinson.

Now granted, such a scenario obviously wouldn't enable the Giants to acquire more draft capital--it's believed that Gettleman is very interested in getting back into the top of the third round as for him to wait from Pick No. 36 to Pick No. 100 is a long wait--that doesn't include any compensatory picks, of which the Giants are expected to get at the bottom of the third round, which is still a rather long wait in between picks.

But if the Giants' goal is to come out of the draft with a top-flight pass rusher and an offensive tackle, this scenario would undoubtedly check both boxes while also helping their already healthy cap situation further.