Why the Eagles didn’t enter the Yannick Ngakoue sweepstakes
The former Jaguar would've made the Eagles' pass rush one of the best in the NFL. He also would've complicated their salary cap situation going forward.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings hopped in the car and drove down to the Jacksonville Costco and bought one of the NFL’s top young edge-rushers, Yannick Ngakoue, for about the same price as an LG Ultra-Capacity 4-door refrigerator.
Here in Philadelphia, many Eagles fans reacted to the deal with the same WTF-wailing that comes out of their mouths every time somebody else acquires a player they felt belonged in midnight green.
So, why then didn’t the Eagles, who place such a high priority on guys who can get to the quarterback, make an effort to add a 25-year-old pass-rusher who already has recorded 37½ sacks in his first four NFL seasons?
The Vikings only gave up a second-round pick in the 2021 draft and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2022 for Ngakoue. That’s chump change for a player of his ability and age. But it’s chump change the Eagles really can’t spare right now given their salary cap situation and the need to supplement their roster with young, inexpensive players.
“We’ll see what happens,” former Eagles president Joe Banner said. “If this [deal] puts the Vikings over the top and gets them to a Super Bowl, obviously it’s worth it. I don’t know if it will accomplish that given all of the good teams in the NFC. But I think it does make them a better team.”
Ngakoue also would’ve made the Eagles better. But he would’ve turned an already tenuous salary cap situation into a potential nightmare.
Last year, he rejected a $19 million-a-year offer from Jacksonville. The Eagles currently have a league-high $267 million committed to their 2021 salary cap, which, because of the significant COVID-related revenue losses the NFL is going to suffer this season, is expected to be in the $175-185 million neighborhood.
That means Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is going to have to trim or move around more than $90 million just to get under the cap next year.
Right now, the Eagles’ top three defensive tackles – Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson and Javon Hargrave – have a combined 2021 cap number of $51.3 million. Defensive ends Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett will count a combined $28 million against the cap next year.
And then there’s quarterback Carson Wentz, whose cap number will jump from $18.7 million this year to $34.7 million next year.
Roseman can – and likely will – restructure some of those deals, which isn’t an ideal solution since it means pushing money into the future. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
He is expected to sign Barnett to a new deal at some point rather than let him enter the option year of his rookie deal, which includes a $10 million cap number. He might even have to make a rare tough call on a veteran or two.
Even with all of those space-saving moves, though, it would’ve been tough to add Ngakoue, given the bank-breaking money he’s going to be asking the Vikings for next year.
“While I believe the sky-is-falling characterization of their future cap situation is an exaggeration, they’re certainly not in a situation where they can just spend without any consequences going forward,” Banner said.
While the two draft picks the Vikings gave up for Ngakoue might not seem like much, they’re worth a lot to a team like the Eagles who need to offset the cap numbers of players like Wentz and Fletcher with as many young, inexpensive players on rookie contracts as possible.
The Eagles obviously place a very high priority on their defensive line. If I had a nickel for every time defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has called his defensive line the engine of his defense, I’d be able to pay at least 10% of my Verizon bill this month.
But after adding Hargrave this past offseason, Schwartz and defensive line coach Matt Burke seem reasonably content with the group they have. That could change if there are a lot of injuries or a COVID outbreak. But right now, they feel they can win and make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks with this group.
They feel that, with the addition of Hargrave and the return-to-health of Jackson, and Cox another year removed from his foot injury, they have one of the best interior pass rushes in the league.
Schwartz has said he’s planning to use some three-tackle alignments this year, with either Jackson or Cox sliding out to end. Both have previously played the five-technique end spot in 3-4 schemes – Jackson with the Broncos, Cox when Bill Davis was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator under Chip Kelly.
Graham is 32. He’s still playing at a high level, but it remains to be seen how much longer he’ll be here. He’s got an $18 million cap number next season. If Graham becomes a cap casualty after the season, moving Jackson to end would be one way to offset the loss.
The Eagles have invested a lot of draft picks in the defensive end position over the last few years. They selected Barnett in the first round of the 2017 draft. They took Josh Sweat in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, and Shareef Miller in the fourth round in 2019. Last year, they also traded a fourth-round pick for Genard Avery.
Barnett had 6½ sacks last season and has 14 in 35 games with the Eagles. He missed 10 games in 2018 with a shoulder injury, but played a career-high 712 snaps last year. He has sat out most of training camp, but that is believed to be more precautionary than anything else.
Sweat had a solid second season and has looked good in camp the last couple of weeks. He played 355 snaps last year and had four sacks and 29 total pressures, which was just five fewer than Graham and three fewer than Barnett, who both played far more snaps.
The jury is out on the rest of the young edge-rushers, which is one of the reasons the Eagles brought veteran Vinny Curry back. Miller didn’t play a single defensive snap as a rookie. Avery played just 33 snaps after being traded in October.
But the Eagles feel both have the potential to develop into good players. The same with Casey Toohill, who they took in the seventh-round of the April draft. The same with Joe Ostman, who is coming off an ACL injury.
It’s also a safe bet that an edge-rusher will be on their 2021 draft shopping list as well.
“There’s no bonafide stud at the top [of next year’s draft] at the moment,” said NFL Network draft analyst Ben Fennell. “But it’s going to be a solid class. Maybe 4-5 first-rounders. And some good Day 2 values.”
Day 2 is where Jacksonville got Ngakoue. He was the 10th defensive end taken in the 2016 draft. Third round. Sixty-ninth pick overall.