Grading the Washington Redskins picks from the 2020 NFL Draft
Round 1, Pick 2: EDGE Chase Young, Ohio State
I mean, this one is pretty easy, isn’t it? I don’t think that you’re going to find many who think that Chase Young was a bad pick by the Redskins.
Sure, some may have wanted to trade down, acquire more picks, and target a guy like Isaiah Simmons. But Rivera’s teams have never traded down in the first round, so Young was always likely to be the pick at No. 2.
I graded the selection of Young after the first day of the 2020 NFL Draft. Here’s what I said about him in that piece.
"Young was a prolific pass rusher during his time at Ohio State. He recorded a whopping 16.5 sacks last year as the leader of a College Football Playoff-bound Buckeyes squad, and every team that the Buckeyes faced had trouble slowing down Young. The only way that Clemson was able to slow him down was by throwing double and triple teams in his direction. And even still, he put some pressure on Trevor Lawrence in the CFP. Young is a pro-ready pass-rushing prospect with quick get-off, strong hands, good technique, and a great combination of size, speed, strength, and athleticism. He is widely considered to be the best player in the draft and the only reason that he didn’t go No. 1 overall was because the Cincinnati Bengals needed a quarterback and had Joe Burrow available. The Redskins were lucky from that standpoint, and it shouldn’t take them long to get Young integrated into their defense."
Young didn’t fill the team’s biggest need, but now, their defensive line is a massive strength. And going forward, they could rival the San Francisco 49ers’ four-man front as the best one in the league. That gives their defense a truly elite position group and makes this pick an easy A for the Redskins.