Things are getting ugly for two Jaguars stars stuck in limbo amid stagnant trade talks. Despite attempts to trade defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and running back Leonard Fournette, the team has been unable to strike a deal for either one this offseason. “Tired of the back and forth @Jaguars,” the frustrated edge-rusher wrote Monday on …
Things are getting ugly for two Jaguars stars stuck in limbo amid stagnant trade talks.
Despite attempts to trade defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and running back Leonard Fournette, the team has been unable to strike a deal for either one this offseason.
“Tired of the back and forth @Jaguars,” the frustrated edge-rusher wrote Monday on Twitter. “Let’s get this sh-t done.”
The matter escalated only moments later when Ngakoue lashed out at a member of the Jaguars ownership for the lack of progress.
“@TonyKhan stop hiding moe,” the 25-year-old wrote to co-owner Tony Khan.
“I’m not in hiding sir, I’m in isolation getting ready for the draft,” Khan replied. “I’ve been pretty active on social media in isolation, but you wouldn’t know that since you unfollowed me (again).”
“Since your feeling might today let’s both let the world in on the truth,” Ngakoue wrote back. “We been had a discussion that the chargers game was my last game. Yet you try to back door the situation without answering any of my camps calls. Smh you spoiled bra.. holding up people for no reason.”
The Jaguars applied the $19.3 million franchise tag on Ngakoue, their 2016 third-round pick, back in March, which was seen as a precursor to a trade. Since then, the 6-foot-2, 246-pound Pro Bowler has taken a number of shots at the team because he does not feel his “top-five” abilities have been justly showcased in Jacksonville.
“I really want to be part of a team that has great culture and winning is a habit,” he told ESPN earlier this month. “I don’t want to be part of a team that losing is a norm or anything of that nature.”
Fournette has been on the trading block for “more than a month,” but so far there have been, “no takers yet,” Ian Rapoport reported on Monday.
The Buccaneers had been discussed as a potential destination for the workhorse running back, but the team is reportedly “not expected to make a trade” because of the depth at the position in this year’s draft, a source told ESPN.
Despite early concerns about Fournette’s work ethic and maturity, the 25-year-old LSU product has developed significantly over the past season. He accrued a career-high 1,152 rushing yards, as well as 522 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 341 touches through 15 games in 2019.
The 2017 first-rounder is set to earn $4.16 million in base salary this year according to Spotrac. The team has until May 4 to exercise the fifth-year option on his contract.
