Chase Young suffered a grade 3 ACL injury in 2021 that kept him out of much of the 2022-2023 season. When he returned he wasn’t the same dominant force we were accustomed to seeing. He seemed to still be favoring his leg and lacked the explosiveness we saw during his rookie campaign. It’s understandable as this was a significant knee injury that can take time to heal.

Back in April, the Washington Commanders decided to decline Young’s 5th-year option which raised some eyebrows. You can look at this two ways. The Commanders want to motivate Young and see if he bounces back next season. The other is the ownership factor which has yet to be official. It’s possible the Commanders are waiting for the new ownership group before making any decisions on the future. Head Coach Ron Rivera has stated more than once that the team is in a holding pattern until new ownership takes over. Either way, this decision has caused several different trade rumors to pop up. Could the Commanders make the move?

Potential Trade Candidates for Chase Young

Here’s the thing, it’s very likely the Commanders don’t trade Chase Young but that doesn’t mean teams won’t poke around. If a trade package is significant enough it may tempt Washington to make the move. They also have Montez Sweat who will be due a new contract soon and they may not be able to keep Sweat and Young.

The Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs have all been rumored to be interested in Young. Of those teams, the Chiefs make the most sense. They are obviously a contender and lost stud DE Frank Clark this offseason. What could they offer the Commanders in return? An early-round draft pick is likely the answer but it needs to be high enough to get Washington’s interest.

I fully expect the Commanders to hold onto their star despite the trade rumors. According to Albert Breer, this is the likely outcome. Chase Young has turned some heads in OTA’s as it’s looking like he is completely healthy now and ready to prove his doubters wrong.

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By: Jake Rajala

The Los Angeles Rams have a head coach named Sean McVay that doesn’t play by the rules. The man that should be sponsored by five-hour energy will always be trigger-happy to make the right NFL trades. With that enunciated, I’m going to untwine five potential trades for the LA Rams in 2022.

Trade for WR Corey Davis

The Allen Robinson experiment doesn’t look promising — as he’s merely unleashed five catches for 65 yards and one touchdown in two games thus far. If the Rams aren’t able to bring in another toy (such as OBJ), I’d love to see them reel in a big-body WR elsewhere. I feel that Corey Davis would be a splendid fit for the Rams. He has ousted 160 yards and a TD in two contests with the mediocre NY Jets offense. I expect him to be a Pro Bowl WR with McVay and Matthew Stafford. Plus, the Jets may be more lenient to shipping him away — as they still have Garrett Wilson, Elijah Moore, and Braxton Berrios.

Trade for CB Paulson Adebo

The Rams secondary clearly hasn’t been talented enough to stop opposing signal-callers. Jalen Ramsey also hasn’t been off to a hot start in 2022. It may be wise to bring in a ferocious, young CB moving forward. I’d love to see them target Paulson Adebo, who is coming back healthy for the Saints. The Saints still have Marshon Lattimore (of course), P.J. Williams, Alontae Taylor, and Bradley Roby at the CB spot.

Trade for WR Scotty Miller

The deep-threat Scotty Miller had a disappointing performance against the Saints in Week 2. With that said, it may be wise for the Rams to throw a late-round pick for him and insert his speed into their offense. The Rams had some success with Desean Jackson last season. Perhaps Miller can be an x-factor with the Rams play-action this season.

Trade for DE Montez Sweat

Montez Sweat may be a hard profile to snag, but his talent and fit would be perfect for Washington. Sweat unveiled 21 sacks, 36 QB hits, 7 QB hits, 7 FFs, in his first 42 games. The Rams weren’t able to bring back Von Miller or ink Jadeveon Clowney. Perhaps they can make a creative move by acquiring the explosive, young DE in Washington.

Trade for TE Robert Tonyan

It may be an underrated move to reel in an underperforming, yet talented, face in TE Robert Tonyan. The Packers TE had a whopping 11 touchdowns in 2020. He hasn’t been able to get into the right rhythm with A-Rod over the past year. The Packers TE could resurrect his career with LA and potentially be a legit red zone threat in the Rams aerial attack.

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By: Jake Rajala

The NFL is a passing league — which means it’s also a pass-rushing league. The 2022 DROY winner was T.J. Watt, who unveiled 22.5 sacks and tied Michael Strahan’s sack record. The NFL world is all too familiar with Watt and Aaron Donald in this day in age. Hence, I’m going to untwine five pass rushers that are under-the-radar and could turn heads in the upcoming season.

Montz Sweat

The Washington Commanders pass rusher Montez Sweat had 16 sacks and 33 QB hits in his first two seasons combined. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a spectacular 2021 season — largely because he missed seven games. Sweat is healthy and he is playing across from an ascending pass-rusher in Chase Young. I expect Sweat to really benefit from the attention that the former DROY will warrant in 2022.

Markus Golden

The days of Chandler Jones having 5+ sacks in a single contest for the Cardinals is over. Jones is in Las Vegas, so the Cards defense will lean on Markus Golden to be a Pro Bowl-caliber player. Golden impressively had 11 sacks, 19 QB hits, and 10 TFLs last season. Golden has had two 11+ sack seasons without a Pro Bowl berth. He will work towards his first Pro Bowl season in 2022 — as a healthy J.J. Watt (10 missed games in 2021) on the IDL should help him get quality production moving forward.

Marcus Davenport

The Saints pass rusher Marcus Davenport is easily the most underrated player on the Saints. The Saints HC/former Saints DC Dennis Allen referred to him as the best player on the Saints defense in the early part of 2021. Unfortunately, Davenport has serious injury habits (11 missed games in the past two seasons combined). He was still able to have 9 sacks and 16 QB hits last season. PFF gave him an unearthly 88.8 grade, as well. If he can stay healthy for 15+ games, he could wind up with All-Pro honors.

Gregory Rousseau

The Buffalo Bills may have inked a future Hall of Famer in Von Miller, but it’s important to not forget about Gregory Rousseau coming off the edge. The 2021 first-round pick was labeled the Bills x-factor by Bleacher Report. He had 4 sacks as a rookie, but he could really blossom in year two with Miller on the other side. It also helps that he has Leslie Frazier, who was named the NFL’s best play-caller by Pro Football Focus.

Emmanuel Ogbah

The Dolphins pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah has 18 sacks in the past two seasons combined. PFF gave him a strong 77 grade, as well. He should definitely benefit from the Dolphins bringing in Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, and the entire direction of the Phins offense. Due to the impending fireworks from the Phins new-look offense, I surely expect opponents desperately trying to keep pace with the Phins offense. Hence, the Dolphins pass rushers should have a plethora of sack opportunities moving forward.

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By: Reese Nasser

The football team in Washington is creating something worth cheering for and it’s being led by a defensive unit that is quickly becoming one of the best in the NFL. Washington’s defense is regarded as a top-five group entering this season and all signs point to them becoming even better. Second year player and defensive rookie of the year, Chase Young, is at the forefront of the defense and has become the leader of the group. Here are three reasons why Washinton will lead the NFL in sacks this season. 

Best Defensive Line in Football

Washibgton has crafted a defense line full of stars. Chase Young, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and Montez Sweat lead the front four. Each has quickly become one of the best at their position and the group as a whole is held in high regard. The other component that they have is youth. The oldest of the four is Allen, who is just 26 years old. Between this group, 21.5 of the teams 50 sacks were recorded. With an extra year of working together, the unit will only work better together. The four of these players alone could account for potentially 30 sacks if they are able to take yet another leap next season. 

Bringing the Defense Back

The fact that a majority of this defense is returning, with the addition of high-profile rookies, this unit will become even better. Nine of Washington’s eleven starts from last season will be returning. This should be room for excitement. As much of the team relies on the front four, the rest of the group should be able to build off of that. While the linebacker core only accounted for a few sacks, that should be expected to change as well.

The expectations will be high for the first round pick. His athleticism and all around ability to play the position will bring an extra dynamic to this defense. While Davis accounted for only 1.5 sacks in his final season at Kentucky, he still racked up 102 tackles. In Washington’s defense, it can be expected that Davis’ speed will be utilized in a way that it wasn’t in college. His 4.37 40-yard dash shows that he is fast and has top end speed. Bringing that type of speed off of the edge or on blitz will result in either Davis getting a decent amount of sacks in his rookie season or one of the star defensive lineman getting the reward.

Chase Young.

Chase Young’s stock continues to go up and up. In his rookie season, he was one of the best defensive players in football. The Ohio State standout is just another great in a long line of star defensive ends coming out of the school. Young’s impact was nearly instant in Washington. He led all rookies in pressure. 

His 7.5 sacks were hard earned as Young was often double teamed. Teams quickly realized how much of a threat he was. He is expected to take yet another leap in his sophomore season and will remain the focal point of this Washington team. Young will be expected to rack up double digit sacks and nobody will be surprised when he does. 

This unit will look to expand on the 50 sacks that they had last season. With the defense that has been assembled, that goal is possible. There is a chance that they could add at least an extra ten to their total from last season. 60 is manageable and will be well within reach for the players out in Washington. 

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By: Jeremy Trottier

Something that has noticeably been forming this offseason as well as the last is the edge rushing room for Washington and Cleveland.  Both teams have spent a top two pick on an edge rusher that is currently on the roster and have another high-level talent across from them.  In this article, I will be comparing these two edge duos, and determining which is better based on a few factors.  These being:

• 2020 Production
• Potential Growth from 2020-2021
• Coaching (defensive coordinator)

The assumed starting duo for each team is Chase Young and Montez Sweat for Washington, as well as Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney for Cleveland.  Just so it is stated prior to my answer to this question, I believe both of these edge duos are phenomenal, respectively.  This is more about which one overall fits the most points to determine success.  

With this established, lets get right into the first of these points.

2020 Production

Starting off, we have how each of these edge duos produced as a combined unit in 2020.  Starting with Washington, rookie Chase Young and sophomore Montez Sweat combined put up the following statline:

• Young started 15 games, Sweat started in 16
• 16.5 sacks, 89 total tackles, and 32 QB hits
• 22 tackles for loss, 6 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 interception, and 2 total touchdowns

Overall, the duo performed extremely well for their first year together, as well as Chase’s first year in the league.  Being able to dominate at such a high level so early in both of their careers gives them a huge advantage, as they are only going to go upwards from here. 

Then we have the Cleveland duo’s stats.  Keep in mind that they did play on separate teams last year, so playing opposite of each other may dent these numbers slightly in 2021.  Under that pretense, here are their combined stats from 2020:

• Garrett started 14 games, Clowney started in 8
• 12.0 sacks (all from Garrett), 52 total tackles, and 24 QB hits
• 14 tackles for loss, 5 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 0 interceptions, and 0 total touchdowns

The main reason they are so far apart is that the Washington duo (31 combined starts) had more playing time than the Cleveland duo (22 combined starts).  

Potential Growth from 2020-2021

This is more of a personal feeling rather than a true factually defined section like the last.  With that said, Washington’s duo most definitely has the most room to grow here.  There are a few factors that lead into why I believe this is the case as well.

First off, they are a much younger combined unit than Cleveland’s.  Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney are 25 and 28 respectively, while Chase Young and Montez Sweat are 22 and 24 respectively.  With this notion, the Washington duo should end up growing in their 2^nd and 3^rd seasons, at least at a higher rate than the Cleveland duo.

Coaching 

Finally, we have coaching, which is a little more interesting to think about.  Starting with Cleveland, they have Joe Woods at defensive coordinator who was just promoted into this role with 26 years of coaching experience.  However, his experience on the defensive side is enormous.  Serving as a DB coach for the Denver Broncos during their Super Bowl 50 victory, in which defense was a huge part of that game.  

On the other side, Washington has defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, who is entering his 22^nd season of coaching.  A former NFL player, as well as Super Bowl winner (as a coach) which was Super Bowl 35.  Overall, this is a pretty close debate between coaches, and will likely not lead to a huge change in either duo.  Rather the development of Washington’s, and the integration of Clowney into Cleveland’s.

Conclusion

With these points, seemingly each favors Washington, as they produced more in 2020, have the potential to develop even further and produce more in 2021, and have the coaching means to do so.  Granted, this is subjective, and based solely on my opinion as well as the stats available to me.  However, Washington is my final pick to be the better of the two edge rushing duos for now.  

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