Tag: Chase Young

Commanders’ Jayden Daniels reveals his offseason plans

Jayden Daniels already focused on next season.

If you expected Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels to relax after a record-breaking rookie season, then think again. After leading Washington to its best season in 33 years, winning two playoff games and the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, Daniels is already thinking about next year.

One of the knocks on Daniels coming out of LSU was his size, specifically his frame. While he’s 6-foot-4, Daniels is thin and sometimes runs recklessly. It led him to take some unnecessary hits in college.

During his rookie season, Daniels remained healthy outside of a Week 7 rib injury. While he never missed any games, he was banged up for a few weeks, which just happened to be Washington’s most challenging stretch of the 2024 season.

In a conversation with Kevin Clark of “This is Football,” Daniels discussed his offseason plans.

“I haven’t really sat down and thought about that yet,” Daniels said when asked if there was a specific area where he wanted to improve.

“I got a couple of things that my quarterback coach probably has written up and stuff like that. The main thing I’ll say this offseason is bulking up a little bit more, putting on some more armor, having a full offseason now. The first offseason as a pro.”

That’s music to the ears of every Washington fan. Daniels is built different. Remember the 2021 offseason when defensive end Chase Young thought he arrived after winning the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year? Young was prematurely named a captain and proceeded to skip offseason workouts and shoot commercials.

His relationship with the organization was never the same again. Nor was his career.

There’s no worry about that with Daniels. He just completed arguably the most outstanding rookie season in NFL history and is already thinking about how to improve in 2025, less than two weeks after his rookie year ended.

Saints’ offseason assets ranked among the NFL’s worst war chests

PFF has the Saints in the worst position to be in: a bad team without many offseason assets. They need more draft picks and more salary cap space to compete:

Pro Football Focus has New Orleans Saints in the worst position to be in as we get closer to the talent acquisition portion of the offseason. The Saints are a bad team without a lot of assets to change this reality. That means they’re short on draft picks and salary cap resources.

PFF ranked New Orleans as having the third-worst assets this offseason. Most teams at the bottom of the asset rankings are playoff teams. The Seahawks, who rank at the bottom, were a tiebreaker away from winning the NFC West. Then you have the Saints and Atlanta Falcons at 30 and 31st.

These rankings were determined by three categories: effective cap space, restructure potential and draft capital. The problem for the Saints is they’re the only team without any effective cap space after pushing so much money from past deals into this fiscal year.

New Orleans does have a good amount of restructure potential, as always, but most of the restructuring will be to get under the salary cap. It doesn’t mean they won’t sign anyone in free agency. New Orleans signed Chase Young last year after starting in a similar situation. However, the restructuring won’t give the Saints much to play with this offseason.

Building the roster will come through the draft for New Orleans in 2025. PFF’s rankings is a great depiction of that. Having one of the lowest sets of assets shouldn’t be too startling for New Orleans. This was expected to be a job that required a multi-year renovation.

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2024 Saints free agent report cards: Was Chase Young a good signing?

Taking a look back at the 2024 offseason, was defensive end Chase Young a good free agent signing for the Saints?

The New Orleans Saints have desperately needed an influx of talent along the defensive line for a few seasons now, and despite their attempts to fix that through the draft vis-à-vis the selections of Payton Turner and Isaiah Foskey, it has not panned out how they expected.

In the 2024 offseason, they tried at a different method of adding talent, signing defensive end Chase Young to a one-year deal. With him coming off a neck injury and requiring surgery to get back to where he needed to be, the Saints took the shot on him with a short contract.

With the 2025 offseason nearly upon us, we will first take the opportunity to look back at the 2024 signings and grade them based on their first season with the black and gold. So without further ado, we begin with arguably their biggest signing of the offseason.

Free agent contract

Young was signed by the Saints to a 1-year, $13 million deal last offseason, with $12.55 million being guaranteed. This contract was the 26th largest contract at his position among the 244 signed defensive ends/edges in 2024. His cap hit did get split partially into 2025 however, with his 2024 cap number at $3,912,000 and his 2025 cap number at $9,088,000. 

The 2025 number was via a prorated signing bonus, so if Young were to leave this offseason, it would count towards the dead cap figure. If he were to return on a new contract it would be added onto that new deal, and would be able to be spread out further over the life of that instead.

Snap counts

When it comes to career snap counts for Chase Young, he has been utilized pretty heavily. Here is his defensive snap rate for each season of his career, only counting games he played in:

  • 2020: 78% (770)
  • 2021: 80% (477)
  • 2022: 65% (115)
  • 2023: WAS 84% (407), SF 58% (328)
  • 2024: 63% (742)

As you can see, he has always been a pretty heavily played pass rusher when on the field, but years like 2022 stand out where he missed all but three games, and 2021 where he played in nine.

2024 season review

2024 was a relatively solid season for Young, and while it was not as strong as his rookie season in 2020, he was making a positive impact all season long. This was the first season of his career where he has played every game, and in that span had 5.5 sacks, 31 total tackles (21 solo, 10 assisted), 8 tackles for loss, 21 QB hits, 66 pressures, 3 pass deflections and a forced fumble. 

Overall he performed better in the second half of the season as he grew more accustomed to the system. While the Saints are looking for a new head coach entering 2025, if he were to return it would likely benefit him to get a jump start and have a full offseason process.

Report card grade

Grading this signing is a little difficult, as on one hand Young was enormously impactful in many key statistics, but the sack number being only 5.5 is slightly underwhelming. This defense needs someone who can get the quarterback on the ground more than anything at the moment, and despite Young being exceptional at getting into the pocket, he had a tough time finishing the rep fast enough to get the quarterback down.

Regardless, for a one-year rental and only 13 million dollars spent, this was a strong season for Young. If he could be brought back for that range on multiple years it would be a positive, and that’s all you could ask for.

Signing Grade: B+

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ESPN: Chase Young open to Saints extension, but may ‘opt for stability’

It’s been previously reported that the Saints are open to re-signing Chase Young, and ESPN reports he’s open to it. But he may not accept another prove-it deal:

The New Orleans Saints have some interesting decisions to make when it comes to their 2025 free agency class. With 19 players set to be unrestricted free agents, there are a few near the top who are most definitely worth looking at retaining. One of those players is defensive end Chase Young, who had a solid season with the Saints in 2024, and according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, is open to sticking around:

“Young is open to a return to New Orleans, where he just played out a one-year deal — though a different defense could generate more sack opportunities for him. He might opt for stability over last year’s prove-it-deal status coming off a serious neck injury.”

In this article of the top 50 free agents, ESPN had ranked Young at No. 39 among his pending free agent peers.

Free agent contracts have always been nice to defensive ends, as their production can make or break a defense. In 2024, the top three DE-specific contracts had an average yearly value of $21.5 million (Leonard Williams), $19 million (Jonathan Greenard) and $14.5 million (Arik Armstead).

However 2025 is not as top heavy of a defensive end class, with Spotrac projecting the following yearly values for the top free agent DEs in 2025:

  • DeMarcus Lawrence: $12.0 million
  • Josh Sweat: $18.8 million
  • Chase Young: $17.5 million
  • Calais Campbell: $7.1 million

Re-signing Young will likely be a priority for the Saints, however doing so at a yearly rate of $17.5 million is quite the staggering price. It is doable, and the Saints may get a bit of a lower number if they go for a longer deal, but ultimately it will end up being a large contract whether he remains with the Saints or goes elsewhere.

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Report: Saints have ‘open mind’ to bring back last year’s biggest signing

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the New Orleans Saints may be keeping an “open mind” to bringing back defensive end Chase Young this offseason

The New Orleans Saints are entering an offseason where they have 19 pending free agents, which leaves them with a lot of decisions to make. One of the higher-priority free agents that they should be looking to bring back is defensive end Chase Young, who had a solid 2024 season and looked to be a quality player on the defensive side of the ball at many points.

While the price tag may be high, Jeremy Fowler reports for ESPN that the Saints are keeping an “open mind” to signing him back beyond 2024:

“Young, the No. 2 pick in 2020, is still searching for his first double-digit-sack season. But he’s 25 and has big-time ability. The Saints, who signed him to a one-year deal last offseason, have had an open mind about signing him beyond 2024.”

This is an interesting development, and while somewhat expected due to Young’s high level of play, it is nice to see the Saints feel the same way about retaining him. It will no doubt be a competitive market, however with the Saints capabilities to clear cap space, and desperate need for a youth movement, bringing Young back seems like a no-brainer. If the Saints can fit him in their budget, that is.

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Chase Young ranked top-25 by PFN among 2025 pending free agents

New Orleans Saints defensive end Chase Young ranks No. 24 among the 2025 free agency class, according to Pro Football Network:

The New Orleans Saints have quite a few pending free agents, but maybe none more important than defensive end Chase Young. In the recent installation of the top 100 free agents put out by ProFootballNetwork, they ranked every 2025 pending free agent.

On this list were three Saints players, and Chase Young was the first of the bunch, coming in at No. 24 in the rankings. Their evaluation of him was as follows:

“Chase Young appears to be getting better as his NFL career goes on, with back-to-back years with 66 pressures and pressure rates of 14.7% and 14.6% in those two seasons. He was not as impactful in terms of sacks in 2024 as he was in 2023, but 5.5 sacks are still very respectful.

One element where Young deserves a lot of respect is that he plays a lot of snaps, with 697 this year after 699 last year. Among defensive ends, that 697 ranks 16th, but within that group, only Trey Hendrickson has a lower tackle rate than Young’s 7.8%. Young may not be the star he was drafted to be, but he is a very solid pass rusher who has proven to be very durable in the last couple of years.”

Young also ranks in third among edge rushers on this list, behind only Josh Sweat and Khalil Mack who are first and second respectively. He is being viewed very highly in this free agency cycle after taking a one year “prove it” deal with the Saints. It seems to have worked out if this is any indication.

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Saints have three of PFN’s top 100 pending free agents in 2025

Three New Orleans Saints players were ranked among the top 100 pending free agents for the 2025 offseason by Pro Football Network:

The New Orleans Saints offseason is going to be an intriguing one, as they have 19 pending unrestricted free agents who will hit the market as of this juncture. With that said, three of those free agents were ranked in the top 100 2025 pending free agents list by ProFootballNetwork. These three may not surprise any Saints fans, however, a notable omission was tight end Juwan Johnson, who did not end up making the cut despite the positional scarcity.

The three who did make the list were as follows:

  • DE Chase Young: No.24
  • CB Paulson Adebo: No.28
  • S Will Harris: No. 92

These were probably the three free agents that had the largest impact on the Saints roster this year, so it does make sense that they were the three representing the team on this list. Young and Adebo were ranked quite highly, both of whom have had good seasons in recent years so that is logically sound. Harris had a good season with the Saints in 2024 and somewhat of a bounce back from some less than optimal years, and while top 100 is decently high, his reps were solid enough to warrant his inclusion.

As for why Johnson was snubbed from this list, it seems like 2023 and 2024 mattered heavily in the rankings, and he has never truly had a breakout season perse, mostly remaining consistent but never great. While he has been solid at times, it is hard to argue him over most of the players included in the rankings.

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Chase Young highlighted as one of the NFL’s biggest risers

Saints DE Chase Young made noticeable improvements in the second half of the season. PFF sees him as one of the year’s biggest risers:

Chase Young was the New Orleans Saints’ biggest free agency acquisition last offseason. Things began slow for Young but he began to validate some of the belief the Saints showed in him as the season went on.

This improvement was seen across the defensive line after transitioning from Todd Grantham to Brian Young as the defensive line coach. Young, Brian Bresee and Cameron Jordan saw the most noticeable improvements.

Pro Football Focus highlighted Young as one of the biggest risers in the second half of the season. How PFF divided the aligns with Darren Rizzi replacing Dennis Allen, Weeks 1 to 9 and Weeks 10 to 18.

In that time frame, Young had just half a sack more, but he began to get significantly more pressures. The defensive end had 33 pressures in the back stretch of the season, highlighted by his monster game versus the New York Giants. That was the seventh most in the league during the time span.

Young improved from a 56.6 player grade in the first nine games to a 73.3 grade in the second half of the season. The Saints have a decision to make on Young. PFF saw a step up from Young and the raw numbers support their observation.

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PFF argues Saints ‘can’t afford to lose’ this free agent in 2025 offseason

Can the New Orleans Saints afford to lose their top pass rusher from last year, Chase Young, to free agency this offseason?

The New Orleans Saints gave Chase Young a one-year prove-it deal in an attempt to amend their pass rush needs last offseason. While the group still wasn’t great, it wasn’t all Young’s fault either.

Pro Football Focus analyst Dalton Wasserman recently worked through each NFL team to find the one free agent that they ‘can’t afford to lose’ this offseason and he actually listed Young as the candidate for the Saints. This is what Wasserman had to say about his choice:

Given the Saints’ current league-worst salary cap situation, it’s hard to envision them signing anything close to a premier free agent. But they would surely prefer not to lose Chase Young. He led the team with 66 pressures this season while placing second with seven sacks. This team already struggles to rush the passer, but that problem will only compound if Chase departs.

Losing Young would have the depth chart looking like this on the exterior of the defensive line: Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan and Isaiah Foskey. That’s about it. Those three combined for 9.5 sacks last year.

Of course, they will likely add at least one player in the draft. With so many needs on the roster, however, it is impossible to guarantee they use a premium pick to add a premium player to the group.

Many expect Young to cash in and sign a bigger deal this offseason off of the success he had in New Orleans last year. If they can convince him to stay, though, they probably should.

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Saints free agent preview: DE Chase Young, stay or go?

Previewing free agency for the New Orleans Saints: Should they retain defensive end Chase Young, or let him walk in the 2025 offseason?

The New Orleans Saints and their cap space is a tale as old as time, and this year is no different, as they enter the offseason somewhere around $50 million over the salary cap. With that, they also have numerous free agents to attempt to re-sign, and only some will likely be brought back as others will have to walk. The decisions will need to be made in the near future, and while this is not particularly a huge free agent class for the Saints, there are still a few notable ones to cover.

This brings us to arguably the most notable of the list, which is defensive end Chase Young, who the Saints just brought in this past offseason and while he was not perfect, he did have a strong season. He came to the Saints on a one year deal worth $13 million, and now has a chance to either re-up his deal or move on and find money elsewhere, which was the initial intent of the deal it seems anyways.

So with that said, let’s recap his one-year stint with the Saints so far, as well as his career production:

Career Stats

In his career, Chase Young has been very hit or miss in various categories, and while he has been a quality defensive end, he has never been elite like people expected when he came out of the 2020 NFL Draft. His rookie year may be his best when it comes down to it, as he had 7.5 sacks, 44 combined tackles, 12 QB hits, 42 pressures, 10 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles with 3 recovered, and 4 pass deflections. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year in that season, as well as getting a Pro Bowl nod. His next two seasons he was injured in some capacity, playing in only 12 total games and only having 1.5 sacks with 31 tackles and 3 pass deflections in those two years.

In 2023 and 2024 he has returned to form somewhat comparatively, with 7.5 sacks and 5.5 sacks respectively. In 2023 he had 74 pressures, 25 total tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 15 QB hits and 2 pass deflections. He followed that up with 66 pressures, 31 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 21 QB hits, 3 pass deflections and a forced fumble with the Saints in 2024. Overall, he has had a productive career, but if he could turn more pressures and hits into sacks he would be one of the best defensive ends in the league.

Snap Counts

The snap counts for Chase young have fluctuated quite a bit in all of his seasons, starting off with 770 in his rookie year, then dropping to 477 and 115 in his two injured seasons. In 2023 and 2024 he picked back up again with 735 and 742. Compared to Carl Granderson this season, who is typically the Saints best edge rusher in recent years, he had only 84 less snaps, meaning he kept up with one of the better players on their defense.

2024 season review

Overall, it was a strong season for Chase Young in 2024, coming into a new scheme with multiple other defensive ends vying for snaps and taking away almost 65% of all defensive snaps is impressive. Coming into a new scheme and producing the pressure he was able to is also impressive, and despite the lower sack number, he affected the game in a positive way, and was tied for second on the team in sacks behind only Bryan Bresee.

While he was not perfect, he was solid, and considering how poor the pass rush has been with this team for a few seasons now, I would much prefer solid to bad. The difficulty will be that he was brought in under Dennis Allen and Joe Woods, the prior of whom is now gone and the latter may be gone with a new coaching change, which makes being re-signed slightly less likely.

Future value to Saints

Young’s future value to the Saints is pretty simple, he is a 25 year old pass rusher (nearing 26) who has enormous potential, and flashed it this year with his productivity in many key statistics. For a team that has struggled immensely to hit on draft picks at the defensive end position, retaining one who produced at an above average level for a few years to fill the need is definitely possible.

Stay or go?

In my opinion, it would be beneficial for the Saints to keep Young on a 2-3 year deal that is heavily incentive laden, but has solid guarantees to try and stay ahead of other teams when it comes to price. Will they be able to outbid other teams? Maybe not. But it is worth a shot, as he is not a veteran and still has alot of playing time left in his career, which is exactly what the Saints need to turn things around rather than paying aging players with waning production.

If there is any one player from this free agency class to bring back, it would be Young or potentially Paulson Adebo depending on his recovery.

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