Does Franchise Tagging Yannick Ngakoue Change Anything About the Situation for the Jaguars?

With Yannick Ngakoue now officially franchise tagged, will the bridge remain burned between him and the Jaguars?

After months of speculation into what the Jacksonville Jaguars would decide to do with defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, the Jaguars took one big step toward answering those questions Friday when they placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the 24-year old pass-rusher.

But what's next? 

That is the question facing the Jaguars and Ngakoue in the impending months. Ngakoue has already drawn his line in the sand, tweeting that he isn't interested in signing a long-term deal with the Jaguars and that he wishes to pursue his career elsewhere earlier this month. 

Now, the Jaguars have drawn their own line by placing the tag on Ngakoue. The tag carries a hefty $19.3 million price tag in 2020, a big payday for a player like Ngakoue who has made a little over $4 million since he was drafted in the third round by the Jaguars in 2016, according to Spotrac. But it also limits Ngakoue from exploring his own options for a long-term deal elsewhere, a big leverage play by the Jaguars.

With the tag placed on Ngakoue, the Jaguars now have several options to take with the player with the second-most sacks in franchise history. Ngakoue has options of his own as well, and the combination begs the question of if the tag changes anything about the situation between the Jaguars and Ngakoue. 

Once Ngakoue publicly stated that he didn't want to play for the franchise long-term, it became unlikely for him to be on the roster in Week 1. Now, there are several options the team and Ngakoue can both take to resolve the situation.

One of those options would have been to let Ngakoue walk in free agency in hopes of earning a compensatory pick in 2021, but the Jaguars were never going to willingly enter this offseason without Ngakoue on the roster unless it meant immediate compensation.

Instead, the Jaguars' situation with Ngakoue remains relatively unchanged. The same options that were on the table a few weeks ago are the same ones the team and Ngakoue are facing now. 

What are those options? Here is a quick rundown to give an idea of how this situation could play out in the coming months.

Option 1: Ngakoue signs the franchise tender, plays for Jacksonville in 2020

One road Ngakoue could take is to sign the franchise tender and report to the Jaguars by Aug. 11, which is the deadline for players under contract to report so they can earn an accrued season for free agency. 

If Ngakoue does sign the tender, he would essentially be on a one-year deal. The upside to this would be he would earn $19.3 million for one season, while the obvious downside is he would have no long-term security in the event of injury or anything else. Most players prefer to sign long-term deals over signing a one-year franchise tag, and it is unlikely Ngakoue feels much different. 

By signing the tender, Ngakoue could opt to play for the Jaguars for the upcoming season while giving him the chance to enter free agency in 2021. This is the ideal situation for the Jaguars considering head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell need to win in 2020 and Ngakoue is one of the team's best players. 

Option 2: Ngakoue refuses to sign the franchise tender, sits out the 2020 season

Another option could be for Ngakoue to simply ignore the franchise tender. The most recent example of this was the path Le'Veon Bell took when the Pittsburgh Steelers attempted to franchise tag him in 2018.

The Steelers placed the franchise tag on Bell a year prior, and the running back played the entire 2017 season on the tender. The two sides negotiated a long-term contract after the 2017 season, but talks eventually fell through and the Steelers opted to use the tag on Bell for a second consecutive season. This tag would have paid Bell $14.5 million in 2018, but he opted not to sign the tender. 

Bell didn't sign the tag and once the deadline to sign a long-term deal passed in July, he held out from team activities. He refused to report to the Steelers before the Nov. 13 deadline to sign the tender, making him ineligible to play in 2018. 

Ngakoue sitting for an entire season as Bell did would be a bit of a different situation considering Bell was paid $12.1 million the first time he signed the franchise tag in 2017. That is almost three times the amount of career earnings Ngakoue has earned in the first four years of his career combined. 

This would be a bit of an extreme scenario, but it is still an option on the table considering Ngakoue's wishes to play somewhere other than Jacksonville.

Option 3: The Jaguars and Ngakoue work out a long-term deal before the deadline

While this would be contradictory to what Ngakoue announced on Twitter, it is exactly what happened the last time the Jaguars used the franchise tag on a player. 

In 2012, the Jaguars placed the tag on kicker Josh Scobee due to the two sides failing to agree to a long-term deal before the franchise tag deadline. Luckily for both sides, Scobee and the Jaguars agreed to a new contract before the negotiating deadline for tagged players ended in the middle of July. Scobee inked a four-year, $14.2 million contract, giving him the long-term deal he wanted, while the Jaguars kept their steady kicker in Jacksonville. 

Could this be how things play out between Ngakoue and the Jaguars? After Ngakoue's statement earlier this month, it is highly unlikely. But it is still an option on the table as long as they take action before July 15, which is the deadline for any team that designated a player with the franchise tag to sign the player to a multiyear contract. 

Option 4: Ngakoue signs the franchise tender after the Jaguars find a trade partner, giving them the ability to deal him to another team

What could be the most likely option is for the Jaguars and Ngakoue's camp to both explore trade options for the pass-rusher. When a landing spot is found, Ngakoue could then sign the franchise tender and be eligible to be traded to any team. 

We saw this three times in the previous offseason.  The Kansas City Chiefs franchise tagged Dee Ford before trading him to the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick. 

The Seattle Seahawks were also involved in a few tag and trade situations in 2019. They placed the franchise tag on defensive end Frank Clark in March 2019, but on Apr. 23 he was traded to the Chiefs (along with a third-round pick) for the Chiefs' first- and third-round selections in the 2019 NFL draft and a second-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Seahawks were then on the receiving end of a tag and trade in August. The Houston Texans had placed the franchise tag on Jadeveon Clowney in March and, like Ngakoue, Clowney made it clear he didn't want to play without a new contract. The Texans then dealt him to the Seahawks in exchange for Jacob Martin, Barkevious Mingo, and a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

In this scenario, both sides could walk away happy. Ngakoue could get his fresh start elsewhere, while Caldwell and the Jaguars could get immediate compensation in exchange for Ngakoue, something much more valuable than any compensatory pick they would get a year down the road if Ngakoue left in free agency.

Option 5: A team attempts to sign Ngakoue to an offer sheet, forcing the Jaguars to make a key decision

Finally, another team can attempt to sign Ngakoue since he had the non-exclusive franchise tag placed on him. But this is one option that could be a bit trickier considering the conditions. 

Under league rules, if a tagged player signs an offer sheet from a team aside from the one he is currently tagged by, then his original team has a five-day window to decide whether to match the offer sheet. Ngakoue could technically negotiate with other teams, but any deal he signs can be matched by the Jaguars.

If the Jaguars choose not to match the offer sheet, they will be due two first-round draft picks in compensation from the team who signed Ngakoue, meaning the new team would have to not only give Ngakoue a big-money deal, but also give up significant draft capital to do so. 

The Jaguars signed center Alex Mack to a five-year, $42 million offer sheet in 2014 after the Cleveland Browns placed the transition tag on Mack, but the Browns ended up matching the offer. 

Regardless, there are several scenarios which can take place now that the franchise tag is official. This was true a few weeks ago, and it is true today. While the franchise tag changed Ngakoue's trajectory to hit the open market, it changed little else, and big decisions still have to be made on both sides.