Washington Football Team signs second overall pick Chase Young to rookie deal
It is not all gloom and doom in the nation’s capital this week now that the Washington football team has got their first-round pick under contract. On Thursday the team inked second overall pick Chase Young to his rookie contract that is worth $34.56 million and includes $22.697 million upfront as a signing bonus. The deal is a standard four-year contract with the customary fifth-year team option.
During the pre-draft process, Young was regarded as not only the best defensive prospect in this year’s class, he is widely viewed as the cream of the crop of the entire draft as the best overall prospect. He’s been dubbed a generational talent and is already viewed as an early front runner to win the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
The former Buckeye recorded 30.5 sacks and 98 tackles, including 40.5 tackles for loss in 34 games while at Ohio State. He was the most dominant defensive player in the country last season and despite missing time due to an unlawful suspension, still managed to log career highs in sacks (16.5), total tackles (46), tackles for loss (21) and forced fumbles (seven).
Young is the latest in a line of freakish athletic pass rushers to hail from OSU to get selected in the top five of the draft and some even believe that he has an even higher ceiling than both of the Bosa Brothers. Joey [Bosa] was selected third overall in 2016 by the Los Angeles Chargers and Nick [Bosa] was taken with the second overall pick in last year’s draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Both brothers hit the ground running at the pro level, quickly became difference makers for their respective teams, and wound up winning DROY honors in their first seasons.
His new Head Coach Ron Rivera has compared him to Superbowl 50 MVP Von Miller and future Hall of Fame edge rusher Julius Peppers. If he follows in the footsteps of those two legends of the game and his former Buckeye alumni, he’ll be in for a fantastic start to his career.
Young joins a defensive front that already features several former first-rounders including Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen, Da’Ron Payne, and Ryan Kerrigan. He could potentially have a similar rising tide impact in year one that Nick Bosa had for the reigning NFC champions last season as a rookie.