Why the Redskins absolutely should draft Chase Young

Chase Young is currently favored to go No. 2 overall to the Washington Redskins. Here’s why he should absolutely be picked there.

We’re in heavy mock draft season now. We would be even if the sports world hadn’t been rocked by a global health crisis, but without any other sports to occupy some attention, discussion of NFL offseason jockeying is even more pervasive than usual.

If you pay any attention to mocks, you know the first two picks in the upcoming NFL draft are fairly certain. The Bengals will take LSU QB Joe Burrow with the first pick, and the Redskins will then select Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young.

But here in Washington, you can find a lot of people proposing alternative paths for the Skins to follows. They are all wrong.

If you are not a proponent of taking Young at No. 2, you fall into one of two camps. The first argues that just about the only area of strength on the team is the defensive front seven, with a lot of draft capital already invested in the likes of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Matt Ioannidis, Montez Sweat, etc… The team should address another area of concern, and picking at No 2 there are ways to upgrade the most important position on any roster – quarterback. Fans of this strategy (Mel Kiper, looking right at ya) suggest Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert at two.

The second argument says that the Redskins have many holes and therefore should trade down to acquire more draft picks and young players. The recent hot buzz name is Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons. This strategy makes some sense, but there are two primary obstacles. More on that in a moment.