What should Washington do about Chase Young?

April 10, 2023

by Steve Thomas

One of the most serious on-field questions Washington faces this year is whether they want to retain the second overall pick in the 2020 draft, defensive end Chase Young, and if so, in what circumstances.  Being born and raised in Maryland, he came to the Redskins Washington with a hometown hero vibe, with fans proclaiming him to be a “generational talent” before he had even set foot on a professional field.  Since then, it’s been a bumpy ride, from the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and a Pro Bowl to a serious knee injury and two years of little production.  Because Young was a first round draft pick, Washington holds a fifth year option on him, meaning that the team could choose to either (1) sign him to a multiyear contract extension, (2) pick up his option for 2024, or (3) let him leave after this coming season.  Considering the enormous amount of draft capital Washington spent on Young, this is a fairly momentous decision for the franchise, both for the on-field product and for the fans.

For some context, check out these stats:

James Smith-Williams: 42 games played, 20 starts, 63 combined tackles, including 31 solo and 12 for loss, 6.0 sacks

Chase Young: 27 games played, 26 starts, 75 combined tackles, including 50 solo and 13 for loss, 9.0 sacks.

Smith-Williams was the 229th overall pick in 2020.  It took him awhile to get significant playing time, but he played 14 games in 2022 as Young’s replacement.  To be sure, his stats aren’t quite as good as Young’s numbers, but if you put it to a production versus value test, Smith-Williams wins hands down.  Here are Young’s stats, broken out by year:

2020: 15 games, 15 starts, 44 combined tackles, including 32 solo and 10 for loss, 7.5 sacks

2021: 9 games, 9 starts, 26 combined tackles, including 15 solo and 3 for loss, 1.5 sacks

2022: 3 games, 2 starts, 5 combined tackles, including 3 solo, 0 for loss, 0 sacks

Young tore his ACL and patellar tendon in his right knee in week 10 of the 2021 season, and returned week 16 last season.  Young’s rookie season compares favorably to both Mario Williams, who was the first overall pick by the Houston Texans in 2006, and Jadeveon Clowney.  Williams had 16 starts as a rookie, and made 47 combined tackles, including 35 solo and 7 for loss, and 4.5 sacks.  Young’s 2020 numbers also compare favorably to those of the first full season of Jadeveon Clowney, the first overall pick in 2014, again by the Texans.  Clowney’s rookie year came to an end in week 1 due to a knee injury.  In 2015, Clowney played 13 games, with 9 starts, and made 40 combined tackles, including 27 solo and 8 for loss, and 4.5 sacks.  Certainly, Young’s 2020 season was at the level of both Williams and Clowney; however, where Williams and Clowney continued to improve, Young suffered from both injury and . . . fairly irrelevant performance in 2021 prior to his injury.  Then, his three games of last year produced no noteworthy results.

The most damning point of all is Smith-Williams, though.  When he started, he produced quality results nearly at Young’s level, at a fraction of the cost of Young.  It didn’t appear to me that Washington’s defense suffered from having Smith-Williams instead of Young.  Washington already has more than $43M in cap hits in 2024 from Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne alone, even without the rest of the group.  Young’s fifth year option would result in a cap hit of $17.4M.  Presumably, if the team signed him to a long-term deal, his 2024 cap hit would be less, but still: having three players on large contracts would represent an enormous percentage of available cap space.   That might be worthwhile if Young was on a steady upward arc, but between injuries, skipping OTAs to film commercials, declining productivity, and a much cheaper available replacement, that might not be the best decision for the team.

Given that Washington only has until May 3, which is less than a month away, to exercise their fifth year option, my recommendation to the team – because I’m sure that Ron Rivera and company are reading this – is to decline the option.  I’m not saying that they should necessarily less Young walk at the end of the season, because he’s still a number 2 overall pick, but Young needs to make progress and demonstrate that he’s going to become an elite pass rusher.  He simply hasn’t done that so far, even in 2020.  If Young lights up the field in 2023, then make every effort to sign him.  It’s certainly possible that Young could end up as a multiple Pro Bowl guy, like Clowney.  If he doesn’t, though, Washington already has a viable replacement on the roster in Smith-Williams, who definitely deserves a long-term contract.

What do you think?  What should Washington do about Chase Young?  Let me know in the comment section.