The career arc of 2020 No. 2 overall pick Chase Young is becoming something unusual in the annals of NFL history.
Young, drafted by the Washington Commanders, came out of the gates like a man on fire, winning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and helping lead his team into the playoffs in his 1st season with 44 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 10 TFL, 4 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 4 pass deflections, and 1 defensive touchdown.
Six years later, Young is still 1 of the NFL’s top-tier edge rushers — the problem was most of the time in between — but he’s somehow found his way back into elite status and big-money deals, just with the New Orleans Saints on a 3-year, $51 million contract ESPN’s Bill Barnwell praised in his annual NFL trade valuations list.
“Young had his best season as a pro (in 2026) racking up 10 sacks in 12 games for Brandon Staley’s defense,” Barnwell wrote. “If the once highly touted prospect can keep that up this season, his $17 million salary would be a relative bargain.”
Chase Young Praised for Breakout Season
After securing the first big-time payday of his career, Young delivered the best season of his career with 10.0 sacks in just 12 games for the Saints, who were one of the NFL’s most-improved teams down the stretch under rookie head coach Kellen Moore.
Now, Young’s deal is being singled out as one of the NFL’s “Best Free Agent Signings” of the 2025 cycle by PFF’s Bradley Locker.
It’s a far cry from when Young’s time with the Commanders ended midway through the 2023 season as one of the biggest busts in franchise history.
“The Saints made a rarely large move when they retained Young on a three-year, $51 million contract to prevent him from leaving,” Locker wrote. “In turn, Young absolutely dominated when on the field with an 86.3 PFF pass-rush grade and a 15.2% pass-rush win rate. The former No. 2 overall pick appears to have settled into form with the Saints.”
Commanders Run of Terrible Draft Picks
Young was part of an incredible run of first round picks who didn’t pan out for the Commanders — 6 picks in 5 years from 2019 to 2023 that were no longer on their roster by the end of the 2024 season.
The biggest bust of the bunch was Young. Following a torn ACL suffered in Week 10 of the 2021 regular season, Young missed 22 of the next 25 regular-season games, including all but 3 games in 2022 — a 2-season stretch in which he had just 1.5 sacks.
Young revamped his career in 2023 with 7.5 sacks while playing for both the Commanders and the San Francisco 49ers after a midseason trade and was a role player as the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl.
Young took the momentum from his time with the 49ers and parlayed that into a 1-year, $13 million contract with the Saints in 2024, when he played in every regular-season-game for the first time in his career and finished with 5.5 sacks, 8 TFL and 21 QB hits.
ESPN’s Ben Solak listed Young among his top Pro Bowl snubs in 2025, with Solak proposing Young should have been one of the picks at edge rusher in place of Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Byron Young.
“Byron Young is without question the better run defender,” Solak wrote on December 23. “Chase Young plays an upfield game that takes him out of run defense, while Byron is one of the more impactful edge rushers behind the line of scrimmage. But Chase has one of the fastest get-offs, time-to-pressure and quick pressure rates of all NFL pass rushers … also the lone high-impact player in the Saints’ pass rush portfolio.”
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