With all 32 NFL teams officially in training camp, there are storylines abound, from big ones regarding holdouts and smaller stories like a recovering former first-overall pick looking to find some success on his third team in two years in Chase Young, who landed with the New Orleans Saints after a quiet end to the season in San Francisco.
Now, when Young was signed, Saints fans were cautiously optimistic, as at times, Young has looked like a true star for the Commanders, Football Team, and even the 49ers, but outside of his rookie season, where he truly looked like an elite playmaker, he’s been more up-and-down than consitant, so much so that the team that drafted him traded him away instead of extending him into the future.
Could Young, coming off neck surgery, finally put it all together and become a legit difference maker? Well, in Dennis Allen’s opinion, Young is off to a great start, as he told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN that he loves what he’s seen from the Saints’ newest defensive weapon so far.
“He’s disruptive – he’s big, he’s physical, he’s fast, he’s motivated,” coach Dennis Allen told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “You feel disruption when he’s on the field. Now, he may not make every play and he may not work the fundamentals and technique exactly how we want it yet. But he’s causing disruption. And he’s having production that may not show up on the stat sheet every time. And the thing I’ve been most impressed about, he’s come in here, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, working hard.”
On one hand, it’s training camp, so any major complements have to be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s certainly better to hear positive things from a recovering edge rusher than to see him on the sideline with trainers or sitting out snaps for one reason or another. If Young can bring his disruptive tendencies to the preseason and then to the regular season, he might just be able to add a few more sacks to his playoff resume at the end of the year, too.
This isn’t the first time Dennis Allen complimented Chase Young
After securing Young’s services on a one-year, prove-it deal worth $13 million deal, fans were eager to see how the former OSU product would look in a Saints uniform.
Would he be able to recapture his former glory, the sort of production that caused him to go first overall and win Defensive Rookie of the Year? Or would he remain a perennial underachiever, if largely because of his injuries?
Well, on July 31st, Allen gave Saints fans the first of many positive Young anecdotes from camp, explicitly shouting him out for how he handles his business.
“He’s certainly ahead of where we thought he was going to be at this point in time, and so, I think the ramp-up for him is just every day, you’re going to see a little bit more. Now, what’s a little bit more? Well, it may be a couple more reps each period until finally, we’re ready to fully incorporate him into the whole deal,” Allen told the Saints website.
“I haven’t seen any limitations at all out of him, other than it’s really kind of been a while since he’s really been playing real football. Just trying to get his football legs up under him a little bit, and I like the progress.
“I would say he’s exceeded my expectations to this point, just in terms of, I didn’t really know the player. I knew of him coming out of Ohio State, the talent that he was and saw him play in our league. But I didn’t really know him personally.
“Just the way that he’s gone about his business, the way that he has come to work every day – he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, the way we’ve asked him to do it, never has there been any sort of kickback on anything. I’ve been really pleased with that part of it. And I think as you watch practice, I think you can feel it when he’s out there.”
Could this all just be coach speak? Don’t most players look good running the ball against air while wearing shorts, shoulder pads, and a helmet? That may be true, but where early training camp reps may only play a small role in deciding on who is a future star and who isn’t, work ethic shines through regardless, and if Allen, and, by extension, the Saints, like what they’re seeing from their shiny new defensive end, it could spell big thing for the future.
Saints made a calculated gamble to bring in Chase Young knowing he needed neck surgery. Considering we're on Day 6 of camp and he's basically a full participant and making an impact (still a little ramp-up left), they have to be feeling REAL good about that investment right now. pic.twitter.com/fdw9jVNDvp
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) July 30, 2024
