Former Ohio State Football player won’t get 5th-year option

The best Ohio State football player I’ve ever seen is Chase Young. He was an absolute freak of nature for the three years he was with the Buckeyes. His final season was crazy when he had 21 tackles for loss and a school-record 16.5 sacks to go along with 7 forced fumbles.

Simply put, Young was dominant. He ended up being the second overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders He started out great as a rookie, recording 44 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 3 fumble recoveries.

All of those stats helped him win Defensive Rookie of the Year and get selected to the Pro Bowl in 2020. Since then though, things have been a bit of a struggle. Young hasn’t been able to stay healthy in the last two seasons, playing just 12 games combined.

Young tore his ACL and his patellar tendon in his second year and didn’t play again until Week 16 last year. Because of that serious injury, the Commanders have now decided to decline his fifth-year option. That means if he doesn’t sign an extension after this season, he’ll be a free agent.

When Young is healthy, he’s an absolute beast. He wrecks what other teams try to do up front. But having sustained such a brutal injury, the Commanders clearly don’t think he’ll ever get back to his prior form. If they thought he would, they would have given him that fifth-year option.

Young can still prove them wrong this year. He is healthy and should be ready to go for training camp. Honestly, it might be better for him to get out of Washington. That franchise is a complete mess from everything the owner has done so it could be good for him to go to a stable franchise.

I hope Young has a monster year. I’m still a huge fan of his.