The New Orleans Saints gave Chase Young a one-year prove-it deal in an attempt to amend their pass rush needs last offseason. While the group still wasn’t great, it wasn’t all Young’s fault either.
Pro Football Focus analyst Dalton Wasserman recently worked through each NFL team to find the one free agent that they ‘can’t afford to lose’ this offseason and he actually listed Young as the candidate for the Saints. This is what Wasserman had to say about his choice:
Given the Saints’ current league-worst salary cap situation, it’s hard to envision them signing anything close to a premier free agent. But they would surely prefer not to lose Chase Young. He led the team with 66 pressures this season while placing second with seven sacks. This team already struggles to rush the passer, but that problem will only compound if Chase departs.
Losing Young would have the depth chart looking like this on the exterior of the defensive line: Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan and Isaiah Foskey. That’s about it. Those three combined for 9.5 sacks last year.
Of course, they will likely add at least one player in the draft. With so many needs on the roster, however, it is impossible to guarantee they use a premium pick to add a premium player to the group.
Many expect Young to cash in and sign a bigger deal this offseason off of the success he had in New Orleans last year. If they can convince him to stay, though, they probably should.
