We’ve gotta hand it to the creative Jacksonville Jaguars fans on Reddit who have jumpstarted an initiative to get defensive end Yannick Ngakoue voted into the Pro Bowl because it sort of screws over the Vikings.
Minnesota traded Jacksonville a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 conditional fifth-round pick for Ngakoue before the season began. The conditional part of the trade is that the pick rises to a fourth-rounder if Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl.
Jaguars fans figured it out and have began an effort to vote like crazy, even going as far as recruiting Minnesota’s division rivals Green Bay, Chicago and Detroit to help vote Ngakoue into the Pro Bowl.
The wild card in this situation is the unknown condition that is built into the trade that saw the Vikings send Ngakoue to Baltimore for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 conditional fifth-round pick. If the Vikings were smart, that condition would be to have the pick rise to a fourth-rounder if Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl. But those details haven’t been disclosed, so it’s a mystery.
The worst possible scenario for the Vikings is if Ngakoue goes to the Pro Bowl and the Ravens win the Super Bowl. That would turn the fifth-rounder Minnesota gave Jacksonville into a third-rounder, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Again, if the Vikings were smart, they would’ve ordered a similar condition in the trade with Baltimore.
The best part of this ordeal is that it’s somehow brought Vikings and Packers fans together. Take this exchange on the Packers subReddit page, for example:
Vikings fan: “Vikings fan here. I do not support this but wholeheartedly respect this level of pettiness lol.”
Packers fan: “I respect your ability to respect our pettiness.”
Regardless, Minnesota is on the losing end since they acquired Ngakoue and got five games out of him before trading him after slipping to a 1-5 start. In the end the Vikings had to eat $6.8 million and lose a second-round pick for a third-rounder in next year’s draft.
Ngakoue has five sacks this season, all of them coming during his time with the Vikings.
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