Commanders injury report: Chase Young to make season debut vs NY Giants?

68The Washington Commanders will play their most important regular season game in recent memory Sunday night vs the New York Giants. The defensive line has been an absolute wrecking ball all year, but returning Chase Young for the primetime matchup would give Washington another edge on paper.

Commanders fans have waited patiently for Young to make his season debut. The 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year was activated off injured reserve on Nov. 21, meaning he was “eligible” to play in Week 12 vs the Falcons.

Young didn’t suit up in the game, and was held out the following week against the Giants. While a letdown, there was no sense having Young’s first game back be on MetLife’s turf, which has claimed countless ligaments over the years.

With an added week of rest during the bye, a Week 15 return vs New York felt written in the stars for the former No. 2 overall pick.

Unfortunately, however, this game of cat and mouse will continue at least another week, as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported early Sunday that Young won’t feature in Sunday night’s all-important game at FedEx Field.

Commanders injury report: Chase Young not expected to make season debut vs NY Giants on Sunday night.

This really isn’t all that surprising. While reports indicated Young would dress for primetime, Young’s own comments earlier in the week hinted he’ll (continue) taking the requisite time to restore confidence in his surgically-repaired knee.

Young is “trusting the process,” as he told the media “When I’m ready, I’ll be ready. I’m 23 years old; I’ll make sure I’m good.”

As frustrating as it is that Young’s return continues to be delayed, you can’t hate his decision to look out for his long-term future … or question his desire to play. You really think it’s not killing Young to not play a role in Washington’s playoff push? This has everything to do with his knee surgery. Don’t get it twisted.

In the meantime, though, Young’s Commanders teammates will go to battle against the Giants.

After being limited all week, Antonio Gibson, Brian Robinson, and Andrew Norwell weren’t given an injury designation for Sunday. The same can be said for Montez Sweat, Jamin Davis, James Smith-Williams, Sam Cosmi, Trai Turner and Dax Milne, each of whom practiced in full capacity Thursday and Friday.

Benjamin St-Juste, Cam Sims and Efe Obada were all given questionable tags. Per the inactives report, St-Juste will miss his third straight game. The secondary missed St-Juste’s size and versatility vs the Giants in Week 13, but if you can’t beat this team without him we have bigger problems to worry about.

Young and St-Juste are the only injury-induced inactives, however. The remaining list includes QB Sam Howell, OL Chris Paul and linebacker Scoota Harris.

No excuses. Get the job done!

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