Washington Football: Chase Young and Montez Sweat aiming to make history in 2021

If its offense lives up to expectations, the Washington Football Team can make serious noise this season. The quarterback position sparks a lot of question marks, and the NFC East is stronger than it was last year, but WFT should be the division frontrunners.

Where is all this confidence coming from? The defense, obviously. With the addition of William Jackson in free agency, Landon Collins looking like his former All-Pro self at camp, and countless young players looking primed for big years, Washington’s secondary has elite potential.

While the linebacking corps could stand be improved, Jon Bostic, Cole Holcomb and first-round selection Jamin Davis should lock down the middle of the field.

Last, and certainly not least, we have the Football Team’s loaded defensive line, which took the league by storm last year following the selection of Chase Young at No. 2 overall.

It’s not crazy to think Washington’s DL can set some records (barring injury, obviously), this season, and it appears Young and Montez Sweat are looking to do just that.

While speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s practice, Sweat, seemingly without hesitation, proclaimed he and Young want to set the combined sack record for teammates.

Chase Young and Montez Sweat are shooting for the stars this season.

"“We talk all the time about breaking records and stuff like that,” Sweat said. “I personally want to go get the combined sack record that the guys got back before. We talk about it all the time.” “Because we’re both dynamic players. That’s all. We got two dynamic players on one line. You can make things happen.”"

We would argue Washington has more than two dynamic players on the DL, but Sweat clearly wasn’t trying to offend anyone with this quote. Sweat and Young simply do their work on the edge, whereas Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne eat up real estate along the interior.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

The combined sack record for teammates was set back in 1989 by Vikings stars Chris Doleman and Keith Millard, when they totaled a whopping 39 QB takedowns. In other words, Young and Sweat are striving to break a record that’s been untouchable for almost 40 years!

That season, Doleman, a Hall of Famer, recorded a ridiculous 21 sacks. Millard, meawhile, managed an equally-impressive 18 sacks.

It’s crazy to think how comparable their numbers are, which brings up a good point: evenly distributing the total is really the only way Young and Sweat can pull this off. If one player has a historic season and the other is lagging behind, suffice it to say they won’t come close.

Young and Sweat registered just 16.5 combined sacks last season, but Young was a rookie and Sweat was only in his second season. Who knows? With a full offseason to study each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and with improved talent in the secondary and linebacking corps, the Football Team’s budding superstars could certainly threaten the record.

Luckily for Young and Sweat, they have a chance to start off hot,  because WFT’s first two opponents (the Chargers and Giants), ranked 30th and 15th in sacks allowed last year.

Either way, it’s awesome to see two players who are still years away from hitting their primes setting such high standards for themselves. While the odds are stacked against them, you better believe this kind of attitude will resonate with their teammates in the locker room.