Yannick Ngakoue continues to stake his claim for a new contract

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a handful of good performances by individuals in their 20-16 win against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday afternoon, sending the Raiders off to Las Vegas with a loss. One of the most standout performances on the day however, was from Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

Ngakoue ended the day with two sacks, four tackles for loss, two quarterback hits and a pass deflection. His impact on the day, for anyone who watched the whole game, was much bigger than that.

The former third-round pick sits with eight sacks so far on the season, which means for every year of his young NFL career he has hit at least eight sacks (a franchise record) and could hit double digits for the second time of his career in a contract year.

The Jaguars offered Ngakoue a short-term deal prior to the season, while Ngakoue was sitting out of voluntary workouts and the two sides didn’t come to an agreement. The deal was reportedly worth $19 million per year, but the guarantees for that deal were never reported and our sources indicate a lot of that $19 million per year was only in reference to the new years of the extension and there wasn’t a ton of guaranteed money.

Early in the year it appeared like turning down the deal was a good thing for the franchise, but as Ngakoue has started working his way back from an early hamstring injury, he’s been a force the past few weeks. In the past seven games Ngakoue has six sacks and like Sunday against the Raiders, he had more than a handful of near strip sacks and was a big reason for others, like Calais Campbell and Josh Allen, getting sacks because of the pressure he was providing and forcing the quarterback off their spot.

With the emergence of Josh Allen and Ngakoue’s resurgence after finally being healthy, it would behoove the Jaguars to keep this pass rushing pair together for the long-term. The two were a force on Sunday and through multiple games this season have shown flashes of a dominating duo off the edge.

As the season has gone on, Ngakoue has only cemented himself as one of the better pass rushers in the NFL and shown he’s someone the Jaguars should plans for.