Redskins: Dissecting the narratives surrounding the 2020 NFL Draft

No. 2 – “Chase Young isn’t as good as the hype”

This statement is accurate in the case where Young is referred to as “perfect”, but some have made a point out of trying to fight the over-hyping by leaning the other way, and diluting his accomplishments. There’s a reason Young has all this hype in the first place, and it’s because he’s such a solid prospect, with both a high floor and an even higher ceiling. Respected analysts are generally in agreement there. I wouldn’t call myself respected, but for what it’s worth, I think he’s worth the hype, too.

Chase Young is an elite athlete with all the traits you could ask for in an edge rusher; he has size, he has length, he has bend, he has burst, he has speed, he has hand quickness, and he has the motor. He checks essentially every box, and with terrifying game-to-game and play-to-play consistency. Some prospects have all the traits and never put it together, but Young already has it together, and he’s only becoming more refined. His ability to accelerate as he bends the corner is particularly striking, and it’s something he can build his attack around which few others have.

Some point to Young’s production, surprisingly, as a negative, stating that his fluctuating sack totals from game to game indicate inconsistency. Sacks, by their nature, however, are volatile measures of production, and not entirely universal. The Clemson game is a good example. Young didn’t get any sacks or tackles for loss. One could gloss over the stat sheet and come to the conclusion that he didn’t make an impact. But the clips below tell a different story.

Time and time again, Young uses his combination of quickness and flexibility to get into the backfield, and when his first avenue closes, he doesn’t stop trying to work his way back. His motor continues to run hot. Several times in the video above, he disrupts Trevor Lawrence’s process, and on one play, he flushes Lawrence out of the pocket with his speed and forces the quarterback right into a sack for a team mate. The best edge rushers don’t just produce, but impact the passer just by maintaining a proximity to them, and Young does that consistently, entering the quarterback’s personal space and making them uncomfortable.

And let’s not act like the stats are a negative for Young otherwise. He logged 16.5 sacks and 21.0 tackles for loss in 2019. He had games where he was dominant, both statistically and on the tape. Once he adds more consistent power to his game, and once he irons out some leveraging issues, he’ll have no issue making a similar impact on the NFL stage. The prospects with Young’s bilateral quantity of immediate utility and developmental upside demand the top spots in the draft. Prospects with this kind of security and potential don’t come around often. Some people get carried away with the hype, but the hype is by no means baseless.