If you’re like me and have done nothing but scour the web and social media for Eagles rumors during this coronavirus quarantine, you’ve surely noticed Yannick Ngakoue’s Philadelphia related posts on his Instagram.
It all started the day after the Eagles acquired Darius Slay from Detroit. Reports indicated that Howie was interested in pulling off one more block buster trade before the offseason was over. This trade, according to the reports, would bring disgruntled Jacksonville pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue to Philly.
With this rumor making it’s way across social media, Ngakoue did his part to add some validity to the reports. He immediately took to Instagram to post this message on his story:
This one could be interpreted as anything really, but the inclusion of the eagle emoji certainly raised a few eye brows.
Then, not even an hour later, Ngakoue added more fuel to the fire by throwing this on his story:
This is clear sign he wants to come to Philly, right? I know fans can get a little crazy when it comes to theorizing player movement, especially when it’s based of social media activity, but this just seems clear as day.
Unfortunately, as the day went on, it appeared that no deal was on the horizon. And some NFL insiders expressed that there was little to no progress made on Jacksonville’s end to find a trade partner.
Fast forward to Sunday, and Ngakoue still seemed like he was urging the Philly brass to come get him. On Sunday afternoon, he posted two pictures of former Eagles defensive end Trent Cole to his story:
To top it all off, he finished the day with one more picture to really stir the Eagles fans up:
Trust me, Yannick, you come home to Philly, you can have as many of those delicious cheesesteaks as you want. Hell, first one’s on me, big fella.
But in all seriousness, is Ngakoue really trying to signal Howie Roseman with these posts? Or in some sick, twisted way is he just doing this to troll all of us here in Philly?
Personally, I don’t know why he would just post this stuff to get a rise out of us. That just seems like such a childish thing to do, but I guess this whole quarantine situation does lead to some pretty boring days, right? Maybe he’s just really bored and toying with us for entertainment? I hope that’s not the case.
I have no way of knowing his intentions, but I chose to believe he actually wants to come to Philly and that all of his social media antics are in an effort to get Howie Roseman’s attention.
I have to imagine the only thing holding Howie back from making this a reality is the price tag. Not just the price to pry him away from the Jags, but also the price to extend his contract.
If the Eagles didn’t already send draft assets to acquire Slay and extend him, I think getting Ngakoue would be a real possibility. Now, the Eagles are a bit strapped in both areas. It doesn’t make trading for Nagkoue impossible, it just means Howie will need to get very creative with an extension.
It also means Howie will need to be damn near perfect with his remaining draft picks. At the very least, the Eagles would need to send a second round pick along with a few later round picks to make this happen, and that’s probably the bare minimum they’d have to give up. This upcoming draft was already a pivotal one for Howie. If they enter the draft with three to four less picks than we initially had, this draft becomes even more essential.
There’s a lot to ponder here, and I’m sure Howie is doing his due diligence in his assessment of Ngakoue. I expect we’ll get some answers on this situation as this week progresses.