Chase Young might not be the best choice for the Redskins
February 3, 2020
by Steve Thomas
Hear me out. I realize that to some of you, Chase Young is The Patron Saint of Pass Rushing, the Savior of the Washington Redskins, a GENERATIONAL TALENT!!!!!!!!!!!, the greatest pass rusher since Lawrence Taylor, the guy who will turn the Redskins into a Super Bowl contender, the best draft pick in years, a “can’t miss” prospect with zero chance of failing, and a bunch of other superlatives. Did I miss anything?
Look, I’m not disparaging the guy; I’ve started watching his film, and he’s a fabulous prospect. I do think, though, that the Redskins might have a better option. Stay with me for a minute while I explain. Right now, today, before the start of free agency, the Redskins don’t just have a few roster holes to fill in. They have a “the Hoover Dam is bursting and all you have is your fingers to plug the holes” sort of situation going on, and with a new head coach and front office staff coming in, the holes might be even bigger than we know. Think about it: right now, the offensive line is missing two starting guards, the status of the soon to be 32 year oft-injured Pro Bowl left tackle is a mystery that doesn’t look good, and the expensive right tackle is vastly underperforming. The only starting-quality tight end on the roster is a player who’s had 8 concussions, never played a full 16 game season, and might be retiring. The wide receiver group is currently stocked with three soon-to-be second year players and the oft-injured Paul Richardson and could use another playmaker. The defense is converting back to the 4 – 3, and as a result, they are completely lacking a legitimate starting middle linebacker, and their most talented outside linebacker, Reuben Foster, is coming off of a devastating knee injury and only recently re-gained feeling in his foot. As it stands, the starting linebacker situation is surely one of the worst in the NFL. The defensive back situation isn’t quite as dire, but the team has one legit starting corner and a bunch of young question marks behind him, particularly at the other outside corner position. Landon Collins is the engrained starter at strong safety, but Montae Nicholson is merely an average at best free safety who has shown a penchant for knuckleheadedness.
In the meantime, the Redskins’ edge rushing role is already occupied by a 2019 first round pick, Montez Sweat, who improved as the year went on, on the right side and a 4x Pro Bowler on the left, plus some decent depth with potential, such as Chris Odom. I’ll give you that Ryan Kerrigan had a poor 2019, at least by his standards, but at only 32 years old when the 2020 season starts, he probably has another couple good years left.
In fact, I’d say that the position group that is in the best shape on the team is the defensive line. That’s not to say that a player like Young wouldn’t help – if he lives up to the hype, he could be an elite, Pro Bowl level player. The Redskins could certainly use more of those. The fact of the matter is, though, that this year’s first round pick is best served by helping the Redskins field a real starting 22. This isn’t a team that’s at least mediocre with only a few problems and is in a position to just take the best player they can find. The Redskins are a franchise that literally can’t field a competitive set of starters.
The simple fact is that Washington can’t afford to spend another 1st round pick on an edge rusher right now, no matter how good the guy might be.
What’s the best move? Definitely to trade the pick for whatever they can get. The fact that Washington has such an enormous number of roster needs but is without their second round pick is a major negative. The Miami Dolphins, who have oodles of draft capital and need a quarterback, are the most likely partner. Other possible trade candidates within striking distance include the Lions and Chargers. Or, perhaps a wildcard team could pop up. The point is, the Redskins need to sell this pick to the highest bidder. This isn’t a situation in which the team should hold out for some sort of RG3-like can’t miss haul. They need picks, and they should take the best deal that they can. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the right move.
Think about it: for the sake of the argument, let’s assume that Young is what most analysts think he is, which is a quarterback-wrecking playmaker. The Redskins already get good pressure: according to Pro Football Reference, in 2019 they were ranked 10th in the NFL in sacks, 4th in quarterback pressures and 3rd in pressure percentage, 3rd in both total quarterback hurries and hurries per dropback, all despite being ranked just 24th in both blitz percentage (23.9%) and total number of blitzes. And mind you, that was with a down year from Ryan Kerrigan. Certainly, those numbers can improve, but pass rush wasn’t the big problem with this defense; plus, those numbers probably will rise some with a more blitz-heavy defense even if the team makes no personnel changes at all. I understand the argument that an elite edge talent along the lines of Julius Peppers in his prime can make a huge difference to a defense, but I don’t think the difference is going to be as much as some think right off the bat. It may take several seasons before his contributions are noticeably more than that provided by the players the team already has.
To me, the smartest move is to move down a few spots in round 1, draft someone like Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons (major need position), Ohio St. corner Jeff Okudah (major need), or Georgia tackle Andrew Thomas (major need), then reap the benefits of the additional picks. Solidifying a position group with one of those players – who, by the way, aren’t slouches in their own right, all having Pro Bowl potential – plus the additional help that an additional first round pick, plus other picks provides. As good as Young may be, his upgrade over Ryan Kerrigan may not be that significant for at least a year or two, whereas getting one or more elite players into positions at which the Redskins are currently suffering will be a better overall upgrade for the franchise. Offensive tackle is a major, major problem right now – wouldn’t filling that need be more valuable to the team than an edge rusher?
I find it very hard to believe that the second overall pick isn’t tradeable at a reasonable price at all, but if that is the case for some reason, the Redskins should still consider taking one of the other top picks at a position that ultimately will be more valuable to the team as a whole.
If the front office manages to bring Trent Williams back into the big tent, sign Brandon Scherff and Ereck Flowers, and maybe a middle linebacker and corner during free agency, then maybe I’ll revisit my position; meaning, they get the roster back into some kind of shape, perhaps then the Redskins would be in a better position to just pick the best player, whether that’s Young or someone else. But until that happens, this team needs to focus on the building blocks before they get the icing on the cake. Think of this situation as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – people don’t worry about spiritual fulfillment if they don’t have food and water.
I realize that I’m not going to convince very many of you, certainly not the ones who love to scream “GENERATIONAL TALENT!!!!” at me every time I dare to suggest another alternative. Certainly, the Redskins themselves aren’t paying attention to either this site or anyone else when it comes to draft advice, nor should they. They’re going to do what they want to do, regardless, so this entire discussion isn’t more than an interesting hypothetical. Either way, We’ll have plenty more to say about this in the coming weeks.