Ask Farrell: Is Chase Young a generational player?
Chase Young had a phenomenal career at Ohio State. He was unstoppable at times coming off the edge. The former five-star is expected to be one of the top players taken off the board in April’s NFL Draft.
Young will almost definitely get picked second overall to the Washington Redskins.
And NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has called Young a generational talent, which is not a term thrown around by him often.
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“It’s interesting because I’ve used the phrase ‘generational talent,’” Jeremiah said. “When I say that it almost feels like a slap in the face to what Ohio State has done because when you look at the Bosa brothers and how good they are, he’s in the group with those guys. He’s the best player in this draft class. I actually had a little higher grade on Nick Bosa than Chase. I had a higher grade on Chase than Joey Bosa and Joey has been a perennial Pro Bowl player. He’s been outstanding. He’s one of those type of guys.
“The impact he has, not only is he going to win his one-on-ones when he gets them, he’s going to create so many double- and triple-teams his way it’s going to be let the other guys eat a little bit. When you pair him up, you look at Washington with Montez Sweat, Montez Sweat is going to be see nothing but one-on-ones and he’s going to have a chance to have a huge year if this is the pairing that’s going to come together.”
Over three seasons, Young finished with 98 tackles (40.5 for loss) including 30.5 sacks. There were times this past year, where he finished with 16.5 sacks, that Young could basically do whatever he wanted off the edge.
But there is a counter-argument here to the generational talent talk. Since 2005, Young is tied for No. 19 overall in sacks among college football players. He’s not even the top player in this draft class in terms of sacks as Boise State’s Curtis Weaver had 34 in his college career.
Other notable names ahead of Young on the sack list: Tennessee’s Derek Barnett, Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan, Kentucky’s Josh Allen, Texas A&M’s Myles Garrett and Von Miller and Louisiana Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson, who set the NCAA record since 2005 with 45 sacks. Ferguson ended up as a third-round pick.
There’s no question Young is uber-talented. He will be one of the first players drafted barring something unforeseen in the pre-draft process.
FARRELL'S TAKE
But we ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell whether he believes Young is going to be a stellar addition to any NFL defense or if he’s going to be a generational talent, which means he’s going to change the position in some way and completely dominate the NFL for years to come?
"A generational talent? No. Young is a great player and is certainly the top overall talent in this draft, but how can we say he's a generational talent when we saw what Nick Bosa did last year and the potential Joey Bosa continues to show when healthy?
"And with guys like Shaq Barrett, Chandler Jones and others currently dominating the NFL in sacks, can we expect Young to get more than 20 in a season with all the attention that will be paid to him? One thing to notice here however is that three of the guys I'm talking about, the Bosas and Young, all hail from Ohio State which will only help the Buckeyes recruit elite defensive ends even better. But I don't see Chase Young changing the position."