What in the world is going on with Washington Commanders defensive end Chase Young?
The fourth-year defensive end suffered a stinger against the Cleveland Browns in Washington’s preseason opener on Aug. 11 and has yet to be cleared for contact.
Head coach Ron Rivera has been noncommital about Young, saying last week Young was to meet with a doctor to determine when he could resume contact. He offered a similar answer after Washington’s preseason game on Saturday.
After the Commanders finalized their initial 53-man roster on Tuesday, Rivera and general manager Martin Mayhew met with the local media. They discussed some of Washington’s roster decisions from the last few days, and Rivera received a question about Young before things ended.
“We’re not going to talk about that; we’re going to talk about where we are right now,” Rivera said. “We’re going forward with this right now. This was a good day; we had a good practice, and it was a very good practice just because the fact that we only had 53 guys out there; you didn’t have the practice squad.”
Should Washington fans be concerned that there is more to this injury for Young? Absolutely not.
Look, Rivera isn’t obligated to discuss injuries until Week 1. He still has some time left before then. Why would he say too much about Young right now?
Fans are understandably concerned about Young, more than usual, because he is coming off a lost season due to a significant knee injury. But, in this case, it’s more of the head coach keeping things close to the vest because he doesn’t need to reveal too much. And that’s frankly what most other NFL coaches would do, too.