This may come as no surprise to most of you, but the absolute top player on NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper’s Big Board is none other than Ohio State defensive end Chase Young. And for good reason.
Young set a single-season program record at OSU for sacks in a season at 16.5. He also led the country in average tackles-for-loss in all of FBS, and was in opponents’ backfields an awful lot in 2019. He garnered so much attention that he was invited to New York as a Heisman finalist. He finished fourth overall in the voting.
All of this, while sitting out a two-game suspension.
Here’s what Kiper says about Young:
Young, who finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, is a dominant pass-rusher whose 16.5 sacks broke the Buckeyes’ single-season record. He had a phenomenal season and is the clear top prospect in the class. Now, does that mean he’ll go No. 1? No, because we know how much teams value quarterbacks, and LSU’s Joe Burrow is the favorite to go to the Bengals. The NFL loves twitchy edge rushers who can get after quarterbacks, though, and that’s Young. He caught my eye as a true freshman in 2017, and he really came on in 2018, picking up the production with Nick Bosa sidelined; Young finished with 9.5 sacks and 14.5 total tackles for loss that season.
Mel Kiper says Redskins 'absolutely can't pass' on Chase Young in 2020 NFL Draft https://t.co/9FGTGrMhvg
— The Redskins Wire (@TheRedskinsWire) January 24, 2020
Everyone is fairly confident that Joe Burrow will go No. 1 to the Cincinnati Bengals, but after that, watch for Young to be the next to go.
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