Coach expects far less drama
JACKSONVILLE — If the NFL regular season begins as scheduled this upcoming September, Jaguars coach Doug Marrone expects to have a bigger, stronger and tougher football team.
He also expects fewer distractions than what they had to deal with over the past two seasons.
“We don’t want a lot of drama,” Marrone said. “We want people to be on the same page. As far as everything we’re doing is all about just trying to win.”
Coaching a drama-free football team could be difficult to achieve, especially if the
Jaguars are unable to find a willing trade partner to acquire defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.
Since the Jaguars designated Ngakoue with the non-exclusive franchise tag on March 13.
He has not softened his stance on wanting to play elsewhere through social media.
“Was never about the money, Duval,” Ngakoue wrote on his Twitter account this past week. “My situation was handled piss poor. God bless.
“Why hold a man from taking care of his family? It’s obvious my time is up in my current situation. Let’s both move on.”
Marrone has remained supportive of Ngakoue, acknowledging that Ngakoue did everything asked of him after he returned from a 11-day contract holdout before the start of last season.
The Jaguars are listening to trade offers, but they remain unwilling to accept anything less than a first-round pick, along with a possible additional draft pick, in exchange for Ngakoue.
The Jaguars already have 12 picks in the April 23-25 draft, resulting from trades involving Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey.
If no trade deal occurs by the July 15 deadline, Ngakoue can either sign the franchise tag that pays him $17.8 million this upcoming season or he can sit out the season by refusing to sign.
“I’m just hoping that somewhere down the line or somehow all this stuff can be resolved in a way, but again I understand both sides to it,” Marrone said.
Marrone hasn’t had much luck the past two seasons with his team overburdened with distractions that started with Telvin Smith’s abrupt retirement last May that he announced on Instagram. Then Ramsey showed up for the start of training camp in an armored truck, with fake money bags and his own hype man in tow.