Redskins Zeroing In On Chase Young?

Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor writes there’s a number of factors that seem to suggest the Redskins have locked in on Ohio State DE Chase Young with the No. 2 overall pick. 

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport notes no teams beyond the Lions have reached out to Young, indicating most don’t think he’ll be available beyond then. 

Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline also confirms he’s been told Redskins HC Ron Rivera and owner Daniel Snyder are on the same page on selecting Young. 

Young has widely been seen as the frontrunner for Washington with the No. 2 overall pick. However, Washington showed enough interest in Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa to suggest they could be considering taking him or generating enough interest for a trade down. 

However, Paylor writes taking Tagovailoa seems unlikely given the Redskins traded for QB Kyle Allen from the Panthers. Allen offers a reliable backup option with familiarity in the new offense coming over from Carolina and will push 2019 first-round QB Dwayne Haskins. 

Paylor also points out the team announced Haskins would participate in Washington’s virtual draft party, making it unlikely they’d take his successor. 

While there’s an opportunity to potentially trade back, Rivera seemed to throw water on the idea of surrendering a chance to draft a talent like Young. 

“If you’re going to pass up Player A, and you go back and you take Player D, Player D has to be equal to Player A, you know what I’m saying?” Rivera said. “Because if Player A is going to play for you for 10 years, and Player D might not, did you really get value or did you just get a whole bunch of picks?”

Rivera added the team is looking for building blocks as they work to rebuild the franchise, which is a category Young would fall into. 

“We need a guy just to come in and really change our football team,” Rivera said. “To me, there’s a few guys on that board that are those kind of players.”

As the cherry on top, Paylor noted Rivera doesn’t anticipate the team taking long to turn in their pick:

“At the very beginning of the time clock, if we don’t have anything going [trade-wise], we’re not going to waste time,” the coach said.  

Young was one of the best players in college football last year and was in the discussion for the Heisman even as a defensive player. 

NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein compares Young in his scouting report to former DE Julius Peppers. 

The expectation is that the Bengals will end up using the No. 1 overall pick on LSU Joe Burrow, which means Young could be headed to the Redskins at No. 2 overall. 

For his college career, Young recorded 98 tackles, 30.5 sacks, nine forced fumbles and eight pass defenses over the course of three seasons and 34 games.