NY Jets: Yannick Ngakoue is missing piece to rather complicated puzzle

Could the NY Jets trade for Jacksonville Jaguars’ star pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue?

On Wednesday, Michael Lombardi of The Athletic stirred the pot regarding Jacksonville Jaguars pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue reporting that the NY Jets could be trying to make a splash addition to their defense.

“According to NFL sources, Jacksonville is extremely close to trading Yannick Ngakoue today or tomorrow, have a firm offer in place — (hearing a two),” Lombardi tweeted out on Wednesday.

Lombardi later went on to clarify the team was “deeply involved” in acquiring Ngakoue via trade. Who knows if the Jets are really “trying”. But, boy, would that be something.

The Jets have been without a star pass-rusher dating back to the John Abraham days. Heck, they haven’t had a player record 10 total sacks in a season since 2015.

Pass-rush is important, not only to disrupt the quarterback, but to help the back-end of your defense equally so.

Trading for a player like Ngakoue only adds fuel to an already motivated defensive front. Players such as Jordan Jenkins and Quinnen Williams would only benefit from a turbulent force like Ngakoue blasting his way through both sides of an opponent’s offensive line.

If the reported asking price is truly a 2021 second-round draft pick, it’s a no-brainer to pull the trigger on a player who will elevate any defense to the next level.

The NY Jets would be taking a risk trading for Yannick Ngakoue, but one that would be worth it.

Many will heckle at the fact that this trade, if executed, stands to be only a “one-year rental” as Ngakoue is set to play on the franchise tag in 2020.

General manager Joe Douglas wouldn’t hand over valuable draft capital only to evaluate an impact player for one season, just to let him walk in free agency.

There’s always a contingency plan in place, although unclear on how high of a price Ngakoue is valuing his play per season, Douglas would be confident that a deal would be put in place before free agency hits in March of 2021.

Yannick Ngakoue would be the missing piece to a Gregg Williams-led defense that doesn’t boast any star power as of late.

There’s a chance one or two Jets may come out of this season recording career-high numbers and exceeding expectations, but with Ngakoue, you know what you’re going to get.