Jaguars' GM Dave Caldwell: Bringing Back DE Yannick Ngakoue is 'Priority No. 1'

Dave Caldwell made it clear Tuesday that he wants Yannick Ngakoue back in 2020.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first step of Dave Caldwell's rebirth as the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager? Try to keep arguably his best draft pick from skipping town.

Fourth-year defensive end, who Caldwell selected in the third round (69th overall) in the 2016 NFL Draft is an impending free agent and played the final game of his rookie deal two days ago. To this point, there has been zero momentum toward Ngakoue getting the long-term extension for top defensive end money that he is seeking. 

But in a press conference held at TIAA Bank Field a few hours after Jaguars' owner Shad Khan announced that Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone would both be retained in 2020, the Jaguars' head front office executive said his top priority will be to work out a deal with Ngakoue.

"Well, I think you guys all know in this room how both Doug and I feel about Yannick," Caldwell said. 

"He is a tremendous player. He is even a better person. How he handled his business this year was tremendous. But I would say that is priority No. 1. To make sure that he comes back to Jacksonville and that he is a Jacksonville Jaguar. So hopefully we can get that done where he’s here for a long period of time."

Ngakoue has 37.5 sacks through four seasons, the second-most in franchise history. He also has 14 career forced fumbles and has only missed one game due to injury in four seasons. He is young, productive, and durable. All of that points to a big payday for Ngakoue this offseason, whether it is from the Jaguars or someone else. 

Ngakoue has left ambiguous hints on social media since Sunday's game about how he hopes this offseason plays out, indicating he may not even be interested in signing with Jacksonville. The two sides tried to hammer out a deal last summer before talks quickly fell apart. Ngakoue would holdout for 11 days during training camp.

But, Ngakoue has his fans at TIAA Bank Field. Whether that means the team will work out a deal with him or at least be able to place the franchise or transition tag on him without incident is unknown, but it is certain that the organization is high on him.

"Like I’ve said before when you guys have been here during the week, you know, you got a player that is going into a year where there is a little bit of unknown," Marrone said Sunday. "A lot of times, in my experience, I’ve had players that it’s affected them, or it’s affected the way they acted around their teammates or affected the way they practice or even affected the way they play. The one thing about Yannick, you talk about a professional through it all, he’s 100 mph in practice. He’s not doing things on the field to get sacks and get numbers. ... He played at an extremely high level."