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The Jacksonville Jaguars picking Yannick Ngakoue is a pick I have been predicting for a few weeks. I didn't know when they would pull the trigger on the Maryland edge rusher, but I knew they would eventually. They simply showed too much interest him throughout the whole process.
.@HankJoness breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly for Yannick Ngakoue https://t.co/zT7DOhkGAd pic.twitter.com/5uy6vevKFk
— Big Cat Country (@BigCatCountry) April 30, 2016
As a player, he makes a ton of sense for the Jaguars. He has experience as a wide-9 pass rusher and has a skill set that suggests he is ready to make an impact now. His ceiling is not considerably high but at this point the Jaguars just needed a functional pass rusher and they get that in Ngakoue.
My only real gripe with this pick is not with Ngakoue as a player but with the fact that the team passed up on Shilique Calhoun and Jonathan Bullard for Ngakoue... although Bullard would be an odd fit because he is a defensive tackle and defensive end hybrid type, but he has one of the highest ceilings in the whole draft among defensive lineman.
Calhoun is simply just a more established talent than Ngakoue. I'd say Calhoun is a second-tier rusher in this class and Ngakoue is a third-tier.
But at the end of the day the team still got a functional player who should be able to step in and make his mark on the team right away.
Grade: B-