Yannick Ngakoue Comments on End of Jaguars Tenure, New Start With Vikings

Former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue spoke with Minnesota media for the first time on Friday, and the topic of his dramatic exit from Jacksonville unsurprisingly came up.

Ngakoue spent the entirety of the 2020 offseason in a dispute with the Jaguars. The Jaguars would eventually franchise tag Ngakoue, but he stated numerous times that he did not want to play for the team and would instead be requesting a trade.

Finally, Ngaoue got his wish on Sunday when the Jaguars traded him to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 conditional fifth round pick. He was out of Jacksonville and in the new start he had been seeking.

"Well, you know, after not retaining a long-term deal with Jacksonville I kind of felt a little disheartened about it. But at the end of the day, it’s business," Ngakoue said on Friday.

"I’m still thankful and appreciative they gave me an opportunity to have my dream for four years. It’s always going to be love for Jacksonville but I felt like, and my family as well, we felt like it was best for me to be able to move forward to a new place, new organization and just get a fresh start.

In four seasons, Ngakoue recorded 37.5 sacks (second-most in franchise history), 14 forced fumbles and 42 tackles for loss. Ngakoue recorded eight sacks, four forced fumbles and tied a career-high in tackles for loss with 13 last season.

Ngakoue was in a back-and-forth dispute with the Jaguars all offseason, but his issues originated even before that. Ngakoue was seeking a new deal in the 2019 offseason but the Jaguars and Ngakoue's camp failed to find much middle ground, leading to a short training camp holdout for Ngakoue. Various reports since have stated the negotiations fell apart because former Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin declined to offer Ngakoue more than once.

Ngakoue was the latest in what has become a long line of Jaguars to not sign new contracts with the team. The Jaguars have seen a mass exodus of key players, both veterans and young building blocks, since advancing to the AFC Championship in 2017, and Ngakoue is one of the biggest examples yet.

"At the end of the day, it’s business. Sometimes we can’t get on common ground, as far as contract situations," Ngakoue said Friday.

"That’s the NFL. Unfortunately, it couldn’t get done in Jacksonville for some of us, but at the end of the day, we still have opportunities. There’s 31 other teams and guys got opportunities to showcase their talents and to get the contracts they deserve.