You got a glimpse at the Saints future core… If you were paying attention
Chase, for all of the hype he has garnered, since he came out of college, severely underperforms. He is not worth what we are paying him and we are now seeing exactly what Washington and SF saw in him
If Young was producing like his college hype, his market would be through the roof in the range of a top 10 FA QB salary. The DE market is extremely expensive. Young’s current salary is about half of the top DEs’ salary. This is the perfect time to bring him back on a 2-3 year deal before he has a crazy season that prices him out of the Saints range. The issue is Chase Young is viewed through astronomical pre-NFL hype lenses, instead of by talent and consistent production for his position in the NFL as a recently-acquired Saint in year 5.
He’s not the #1 draft prospect anymore in year 5. He’s not being relied on to anchor the line as the top lineman. He’s one of the top pressure rushers in the league and can sack the QB like a top 10-15 pass rusher. He’s producing exactly like he’s being paid. His run defense is average to shaky which is expected from the 2nd DE but he’s made TFLs against the run. 13M-16M AAV is fringe tier-2 DE range which is the actual production Young is providing, including through recent games. Young is our DE2 who has the production and salary of our DE1, Granderson, while he carries potential DE1 upside.
We’re talking about Young like he’s the Saints’ last two drafted DEs who haven’t produced at all. The dropoff between Young and Foskey-Turner is very severe. Retain productive young talent accordingly while they’re in the building. It hasn’t been fun for the Saints trying to replace Hendrickson in recent drafts.
Most NFL teams are also having trouble finding long term star pass rushers in the draft. The 2024 rookie rushers have less than 5 sacks through 14 games. The most impactful ‘24 rushers have been later 1st rounders, Verse and Chop Rob, while the top two, Latu and D. Turner, have been largely quiet. The top two from the ‘23 draft are also invisible through almost 2 seasons.
Its not easy acquiring a definite productive 2nd DE, let alone one from the top of the draft. It’ll be dreadful to go into 2025 with likely-retiring 36 year old Cam Jordan as the best option to start at DE2. Young has to be brought back to shore up DE2. That makes it easier to allocate resources towards adding DT talent next to Bresee.