According to an ESPN story, defensive end Chase Young inked a one-year, fully guaranteed contract worth over $13 million with the New Orleans Saints on Monday.
The Saints announced the agreement, but they withheld the precise financial details from the media.
The Saints in Chase Young’s Eyes
Young spoke with the Saints on Monday and expressed his admiration for their defensive scheme. Young was moved from the Washington Commanders to the San Francisco 49ers during the previous season.
Young stated, “I definitely plan to add a good piece,” during a Monday night video chat with reporters from New Orleans. “I’m going to give my play the spotlight.”
In order to strengthen their edge-rushing ability, the 49ers sent the Commanders a compensatory third-round pick in order to acquire Young immediately before the trade deadline.
Performance against the 49ers
Alongside Clelin Ferrell, Young was a vital member of the 49ers’ pass rush in San Francisco during passing situations. In nine regular-season games, he produced 10 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 16 pressures. In the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he also received a sack.
The 24-year-old Young equaled his career-high output with 7.5 sacks during the season. He also generated 41 pressures and made 25 tackles while with Washington and San Francisco.
“I think I can improve in every aspect of my game. I’m still very much a rookie,” Young remarked. “I’m going to try my hardest to ensure that [the Saints] understand that they made the right choice.”
Damage and Healing
In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Commanders chose Young with the second overall choice. He had difficulties, though, since he missed the majority of the 2022 season due to a ruptured right ACL in 2021. He only appeared in 12 games over the course of two seasons during this time.
The Saints’ Present Pass-Rushing Predicament
The Saints didn’t make any deals during the trade deadline of the previous year, despite their falltime pursuit of a pass-rusher. With just 34 sacks at the end of the 2023 season—their lowest total since 2016—they were placed 28th, demonstrating their obvious pass-rushing difficulties.
The Saints have made significant investments in pass-rushers by selecting Isaiah Foskey in the second round of the 2023 draft and Payton Turner in the first round of the 2021 draft, both of whom did not record a sack in the previous campaign. Turner played in just two games due to injury, while Foskey was a healthy scratch for the majority of the season.
The Saints signed 34-year-old Cameron Jordan and 27-year-old Carl Granderson to new contracts last autumn. Jordan, a first-round selection in the 2011 NFL Draft, finished as the final Saints pass-rusher to record ten or more sacks; in 2021, he had 12.5 sacks. Despite battling multiple ailments during the season, he participated in every game and ended with 2.5 sacks.
