The Chase Young Chase Down

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August 10, 2022

By Paul Francis

This time two years ago in the Washington training camp, there was a singular spotlight on Chase Young, and for good reason.  Universally identified as an elite “can’t-miss” prospect, Chase Young sat atop most draft boards with the best overall player grade.  Though Joe Burrow would get picked number 1 due to the outsize value of the QB position, many experts said Chase Young was one of the most complete football players they’d ever scouted.  In Washington, you’d have to go back to Lavar Arrington to find a defensive player drafted with so much fanfare and expectation.

The fact that Young also represented a turning point for the entire Washington organization added to the brightness of the spotlight.  Ron Rivera was in his first year as head coach, de-facto GM, and public face of the organization, as Washington rebooted itself top to bottom.  Chase Young fit perfectly into that narrative as the player-embodiment of “turning the page” and looking toward a brighter and better future.

So, all of Chase’s moves in training camp were scrutinized – from how he moved laterally in agility drills to his hand-placement in 1-1 matchups.  Young couldn’t sneeze without a reporter commenting on whether he used a cupped hand or tucked his face into a folded elbow to shield it.  Two years later, I have to ask: Has something changed?  It’s August.  Training camp has started, and I find myself chasing down news on Chase Young trying to find out what he’s up to.

As the Commanders inaugural camp gains traction, Chase Young is off to the side – literally and figuratively.  Most of the camp stories so far have to do with Carson Wentz, the new-look wide receiver corps, how the rookies are fitting in and the pressure on Ron Rivera to lead the Commanders forward in the critical third year of a rebuild, while zoning out all the “institutional noise” around the organization’s owner.  It’s not that Chase has disappeared altogether – we’ve heard some updates about his rehab progress – but it’s interesting (at least to me) that there isn’t more buzz about a “comeback year” considering the kind of energy surrounding him before.  Again, we are talking about a generational-franchise-altering cornerstone draft pick.

Have expectations changed?  Has excitement dimmed?  As I chase down these Chase Young questions, a few thoughts emerge:

They always come back down to earth.

To be sure, Young’s first 2 seasons in the NFL could not have been more different.  In 2020, he won Defensive Rookie of the Year, posting 7.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries for a Washington group that became a surprise playoff team primarily on the strength of its defense.  You hardly could have scripted a better beginning to the Chase Young story.  Then in 2021, the sophomore slump was real.  He struggled early and often, and coaches critiqued his penchant of trying to do too much, while the whole defense disappointed.  In Week 10, he suffered a season-ending ACL/MCL injury having posted a measly 1.5 sacks.

Perhaps some of the buzz is off because we’ve accepted the reality that for all the broo-ha that surrounds high draft picks who have phenomenal first seasons.  However, at the end of the day they are young players still adapting to a highly specialized and extremely difficult professional endeavor.  The little kid in us would like to believe that the hero draft pick can just keep ascending without any dips or setbacks, but the sober grown-up knows that’s never the case.  You’d think the ones around Washington would especially know that.  Still, sections of the NFL punditry are bullish on Chase Young’s future.  One ESPN survey that compiled rankings from coaches, execs, players and scouts around the NFL had Young as an “honorable mention”, just missing out on the list of Top 10 pass-rushers in the NFL.  Pro Football Focus listed Chase Young as 7th in its list of Top 10 defenders under the age of 25.  Coming off a down year like he had in 2021, that’s still pretty good stock.

Oh right, there’s that injury.

There’s no doubt that the injury rehab is muting some of the potential excitement about Chase Young this season.  Unfortunately, he injured his knee late in the year last season, which means he won’t return and contribute until after the regular season begins, as coaches have already indicated.  Ron Rivera has said flat out that they won’t rush the process or put timeline pressure on his return.  Once back, Young will then have to go through that tricky gray period of technically being healthy enough to play, but not necessarily 100% in terms of mind-body-spirit firing on all cylinders at an elite level in game conditions.

So, we’d be foolish to presume that this season is going to be a next-level breakout year for Chase Young, but all is not lost either.  In fact, one only needs to look at Young’s ex-college teammate Nick Bosa for a hopeful comparison.  After being selected number 2 overall by the Niners one year before Chase Young, Bosa flashed top-level skills his rookie season before an ACL blowout in Week 2 ended his sophomore campaign barely as it began.  But Bosa had a successful rehab and returned to his dominant ways last season.  Let’s hope that Buckeye charm carries over to Chase, eh?

Maybe we don’t need Chase Young to be an immediate “superstar”?

There’s no question that we all hope and want a player with Chase Young’s gravitas to be everything that we dream – the franchise-changing draft pick that actually changes a franchise and has a HOF career as he leads Washington to new glory years.  In Washington during the Snyder Era, there’s no doubt that the organizational culture has trended toward the “savior-player” model.  That one big guy is going to make the difference, but sadly ends up being indicative of the problem (think Jeff George, Deion Sanders, Albert Haynesworth, RG3, Josh Norman, Landon Collins, etc.).  Such is the mentality of the desperate and despondent.

But last season was interesting on a lot of levels.  The defense struggled mightily at the start, and when both Chase Young and Montez Sweat were lost to injury, many expected the worst.  But something else happened.  The defense actually gelled, found its footing, and in many ways played better as an ensemble cast of guys.  Perhaps going into this season, there is more of a focus on the defense doing that kind of thing, as opposed to hoping for hero-ball from the “superstars”?  And that’s not a bad thing at all.  Don’t get me wrong, the dreamer in me would still love to see Chase Young and Montez Sweat become our version of Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.  But as a first step, it’s better to expect Chase to simply find his role in the defense before trying to find his numbers in the box score.  If all these guys can be their best within their role, then the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.  After all, if there’s a lesson that the new Commanders can glean from the old glory years of Joe Gibbs and the Redskins here in Washington, it’s just that winning formula.

So where are you on our Generational Talent?  Do you have high hopes for a glorious comeback this year, or are you “wait and see”?  What does the team need from him to win this season, and what does Chase need to have the kind of Hall of Fame career we hope he can in the big picture?

Comments and lively (football) discussion are always welcome…especially in these dog-days of August!