Young's value is widespread
Warpath|August 2020
The impact Chase Young is expected to make is enormous, but it might be hard to quantify in statistical value.
Chris Russell
Young's value is widespread

If the No. 2 overall pick only walks away with five or six sacks in his rookie year, that is going to be viewed as a disappointment.

What if that’s the case, but everyone else’s stats go up across the board and a talented defense actually you know, does its job?

What if the Washington defense actually operates like it has a clue on third down?

That’s the impact that will be difficult to measure.

If Young has 10 sacks or more - does that mean he had a great year?

Individually - maybe. There’s a strong argument to be made that sacks are just one element and of course because the media focuses on it. The rest of the job of an NFL defensive lineman or linebacker gets lost.

For instance, until last year, Ryan Kerrigan was regularly in double digits with sacks. However, anyone that actually paid attention realized that he was inadequate in coverage and when it came to controlling bootlegs and play action would often get sucked in.

Kerrigan was always viewed as a terrific player and by no means was he bad or subpar, but was he great? If we were just judging one dimension - yes.

This story is from the August 2020 edition of Warpath.

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This story is from the August 2020 edition of Warpath.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.