Similarly to when he was drafted, Commanders defensive end Chase Young has been at the center of Washington NFL fan’s radio discussions this week.
Monday and Tuesday, Young was discussed by Chris Russell, Kevin Sheehan, Ben Standig and Grant and Danny.
The heart of the matter in all conversations is that Young has far from lived up to expectations when he was drafted second overall in the 2020 NFL draft. Consequently, with the deadline approaching, the Commanders must decide if they are going to go ahead and take on Chase Young’s fifth-year option.
Sheehan asked Standig if the Commanders had to choose to either extend Montez Sweat or offer Chase Young the fifth-year option, which would they choose. Standig went with Montez Sweat. “Montez Sweat has simply been the better player to this point,” expressed Standig. Standig also pointed to the struggle Ron Rivera has also experienced with Young’s maturity as a major issue.
“Defensive end/pass rusher is a significant priority for this team because Chase Young is not a part of the long-term future of this team in my eyes,” declared Russell on his 980 The Team show. “And I don’t think he is in their eyes either.”
Russell told his listeners, “There’s stuff you all don’t know about, that they (the Commanders) know about. I keep telling you that. There’s stuff you don’t know about that they know about. And I am just going to leave it at that.”
Grant Paulsen expressed regarding Young that after a fine rookie season, “Going into year two, we all expected he was about to make the Bosa leap. He was about to go get 14/15 sacks. Obviously, for nine games, he was really disappointing before he got hurt.”
“That whole season started with Young, the only one of the 90 players of the entire team who wasn’t at OTAs. Then when he was asked about it he was ‘getting that money, boss’. So, some of the questions started to come right away.
“Rivera was challenging him, talking about his maturity. So it has been very negative and downhill since then, I would say.”
All were in agreement, they want Young to bust out and play well for Washington, but they were all realistic as well. Young has been a major disappointment, and it is not about his injury only. Young was entirely unaware of how immature he was during the 2021 season.
We are all hoping he has grown up, is now aware and mature, and ready to bust out as a second-overall pick in an NFL draft should be.