With NFL free agency just around the corner, one area the Green Bay Packers need to improve is their pass rush.
One intriguing option will be Chase Young, the No. 2 pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. After winning Rookie of the Year honors, Young looked like the next great defender, but he enters free agency with only 22 career sacks. Nonetheless, Young, who will turn 26 next month, has the potential to be exactly what the Packers need.
Young had 7.5 sacks, 10 tackles for losses and four forced fumbles during a monster rookie season. However, he suffered a torn ACL and patellar tendon midway through the 2021 season that kept him out until the final three games of the 2022 season.
“It’s a part of life, man. Part of the game,” Young said about returning from his injury. “You’re going to have those. It’s all how you respond.”
Young was traded to the 49ers midway through the 2023 season. While he showed flashes of his old self with 7.5 sacks in 16 games, he still wasn’t a consistent force. That led to him signing a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints in 2024. He played in all 17 games, and while he had only 5.5 sacks, he set a career high with 21 quarterback hits.
Young’s impact – and potential impact with the Packers – was evident when looking at some of the analytical numbers.
According to Pro Football Focus, Young had 66 quarterback pressures. Among Green Bay’s defensive ends, that’s almost as many as former first-round picks Rashan Gary (47) and Lukas Van Ness (20) combined.
Young finished seventh among all edge defenders in pressures. Of 93 edge defenders with at least 200 pass-rushing opportunities, Young ranked a respectable 29th in pass-rush win rate.
The Packers’ pass rush in 2024 was inconsistent. Sure, they finished eighth with 45 sacks, but those numbers are a bit misleading because 15 of those sacks came in just two games against the Titans and Seahawks. Over the other 15 games, the Packers recorded 30 sacks. That’s two sacks per game, or a full-season projection of 34, which would have ranked 28th.
That inconsistency makes it clear they need someone who can bring steady pressure week in and week out.
“I think certainly all those guys are improving,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine. “It was the first season in a bit of a different system for those guys, and I thought that showed at times. (I’m) looking for all those guys to take steps forward, and I think they will.
“We’ve got to be able to get after the quarterback with four. We’ve got to affect the quarterback more with just four players. How we do that will probably evolve and we’ll see how that goes, but those guys have to get a little better and be more consistent.”
Looking at Green Bay’s defensive ends, neither Gary nor Van Ness have been able to reach their potential with regularity. Gary, a first-round pick in 2019, tied for 36th in the NFL with 7.5 sacks in 2024 and never has had a 10-sack season. Van Ness, a first-round pick in 2023, tied for 135th with three sacks. They haven’t been the consistent forces the Packers need.
That’s where Young comes in. If he can take another step and turn those pressures into more sacks, he could be the missing piece that elevates the Packers’ pass rush.
“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,” then-Saints coach Dennis Allen said.
“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 think you can feel it when he’s out there.”
If Gary can find his form, as well, they could become one of the best edge-rushing duos in the NFL. With Young being just 26 next season, his prime is ahead of him. With his injury struggles potentially behind him, he could be on his way to becoming a dominant defender again.
PFF, which projects a two-year, $35 million contract, called Young “a high-end No. 2 edge rusher for any team in need.”
The Packers are in need. Adding Young would not only improve the defense, but position the Packers to be a stronger contender next season.