Washington Football Team has an elite edge rushing duo

Chase Young

For Chase Young, where do I even begin?

Against the 49ers, he completely lived up to his pre-draft hype and then some. He completely changed that game. He took the game over. He totaled six tackles, two QB hits, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a touchdown, and two tackles for loss. Chase Young had a historic day.

According to Washington PR in a tweet by the Athletic’s Rhiannon Walker, Chase Young became the first player in franchise history to have a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the same game. He is only the eighth rookie ever to achieve such a feat since 1982.

All season long Chase Young has been really good, and at times dominant. Finally, against the Niners, the stat sheet matched up with the tape. Like Sweat he is already a great run defender. For a rookie, he is pretty advanced with his technique. That will continue to improve as his career progresses. He is such a smart player; a bootleg, play-action pass, or a screen never fools him. And he is relentless. He plays every play so hard.

Young’s unique combination of edge bend, athleticism, football IQ, and freakish size makes him a coach’s dream. He is that good. Not only that, but Chase Young is consistently always locked in. On the sideline, when his teammate makes a play, you can see him jumping around in excitement. Against the Steelers, when Cam Sims had his huge one-handed catch on a third-and-4, Chase Young can be seen doing a full sprint down the sideline to congratulate his teammate.

There is one really interesting and telling stat. According to Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, there are only three players to have at least five sacks, two forced fumbles and a defensive touchdown in the NFL in 2020. Two of those players are Montez Sweat and Chase Young. The other one? J.J. Watt. That is pretty good company to be in.