Chase Young was ultimately traded to the San Francisco 49ers at the Oct. 31 deadline, but before he was sent to the Bay Area, there was another team that made a push to pry Young away from the Washington Commanders: the Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report, the Jaguars made a play for Young before he was dealt to the 49ers for a third-round draft pick.
Jacksonville’s apparent interest in Young is hardly surprising, as the Jags rank just 30th in the NFL with 16 sacks through the first nine weeks of the season. More than half of those sacks have come from edge rusher Josh Allen, who has already totaled nine sacks in eight games.
Young has logged 15 tackles and five sacks through seven contests in 2023, so he certainly would have been of some assistance to a Jaguars’ pass rush that could obviously use a boost.
The 24-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Ohio State, was originally selected by Washington with the second overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
He had an impressive rookie campaign, registering 44 tackles and 7.5 sacks, but after that, he became a pretty big disappointment for the Commanders.
Young tore his ACL nine games into his second season and was only able to play in three contests the following year due to his recovery and other issues. Over the course of those two campaigns, Young compiled a grand total of 1.5 sacks.
The Upper Marlboro, Md. native then missed the 2023 season opener as a result of a stinger he sustained in preseason, but he returned in Week 2 and has seen a resurgence since then.
Young is set to be a free agent at the end of the year, so Washington decided to move him now rather than lose him for nothing in the spring.
Ironically enough, the Jaguars will get a first-hand look at Chase Young this Sunday when they battle San Francisco in his Niners debut.
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