The Washington Commanders are reportedly open to dealing their former top pick and the Kansas City Chiefs would be wise to call about Chase Young.
With just hours to go before the 2023 NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders finally gave some sort of indication as to what they will do with the abundance of front-line talent they’ve held on defense with the news that they would not use the fifth-year option on pass rusher Chase Young. In doing so, the Kansas City Chiefs now have an ideal trade target before them—if they can find the right price.
Young should be a familiar name to pretty much everyone after coming out three years ago as a “can’t miss” prospect, the sort of guy whose scouting reports read “perennial All-Pro” and “the prototype for modern pass rushers“. After watching Young rack up 27 sacks in his final seasons at Ohio State, the Commanders selected Young at No. 2 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft and expected him to turn into a franchise cornerstone for then-new head coach Ron Rivera.
After his first season in the league, Young looked the part of a future star. He had 7.5 sacks in his first year with 4 forced fumbles, and it was clear he was on a strong trajectory forward. In 2021, Young’s career took an odd turn. Instead of building on his success, Young failed to set the edge as he did his first year and his technique was off. With only 1.5 sacks through the first half of the season, it was already a letdown, and then came the devastating ACL injury that robbed him of basically everything through the present day.
All of which is why the Commanders decided earlier this week to not take up Young on that fifth-year option that comes with first-round rookie deals.
So why would the Chiefs even be interested at this point? Because the move could make a lot of sense on multiple fronts but none of them is more important than this: Chase Young is the sort of potential game-altering talent that the Chiefs no longer have access to when selecting from the bottom of the draft.
For the most part, if you want a Bosa or a Garrett, you have to either run a pitiful team or somehow own the first-round pick of a pitiful team. The Chiefs are the crown jewel of the NFL. They’re going to contend for every Super Bowl from now until somewhere in the 2030s—at least. Their access to this sort of pass rusher is extremely limited and only in cases like this—where there is some level of risk.
You might argue that the Chiefs don’t need to reach for a player like this as long as they remain steady and keep an elevated floor of talent and that might be true, but the journey to Super Bowl glory is made a lot easier by having such a player and the Chiefs should always take the swing when presented with such a rare opportunity.
Let’s not forget that a pursuit of Chase Young works for the Chiefs in a number of other ways.
- There’s a clear positional need after releasing Frank Clark and watching Carlos Dunlap hit free agency. Perhaps one or both of those players could return, but the Chiefs have needed another young investment on the edge even with the signing of Charles Omenihu and last year’s selection of George Karlaftis.
- The Chiefs are already linked with a high-pick at defensive end, but Chase Young’s potential dwarfs that of anyone K.C. could potentially take in this year’s first round.
- Brett Veach loves this take this sort of swing on potential that’s selling at an all-time low. We’ve seen it before with Cam Erving, Reggie Ragland, Mike Hughes, et al.
What does this mean for the Chiefs? It would cost them for sure. A second-round pick in 2023 and another Day 2 pick in 2024 might be enough to get it done. Does that sound steep? It hurts for sure, but Washington has no reason to just punt a guy who was the Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowler as recently as 2021. It should also be noted that the Chiefs pick at the bottom of each round, which makes each pick far less valuable compared with other teams offering something in the same round. Remember, a second-round pick from the Chiefs isn’t even a top-60 prospect.
Right now, the door is open for the Chiefs to at least try and grab the sort of pass rusher that could raise the ceiling of the entire unit to a level we’ve never seen in K.C.—at least not since Andy Reid arrived. It’s a risk worth taking for a team with 10 draft picks to use and one of the NFL’s youngest rosters. If Young somehow flames out, another team will take a risk on him in free agency and a compensatory pick will belong to K.C. If he returns healthy and ready, however, it would mean game over for the rest of the league.