Ohio State Football: Is Chase Young worth all the NFL hype?

Former Ohio State football star Chase Young came into the NFL as one of the most hyped prospects of all time. Is he worth the hype?

Certain prospects come along every now and then that are labeled “once in a generation” type players. From John Elway to Andrew Luck, some of these kind of prospects go on to have careers that live up to the hype like they did, but there are some who do not workout.

Tony Mandarich was hyped as the best offensive line prospect of all time and went on to be one of the biggest busts in NFL history. Chase Young is coming off a dominant season in which he finished with 16.5 sacks and was a Heisman Trophy finalist. Despite being drafted No. 2 overall and not first, almost every credible draft analyst was on record saying that Young was the best prospect in the class even though LSU’s Joe Burrow should have been the first selection.

Young has everything that you would want in a NFL edge rusher. Standing at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, Young is a dominant force that has a chance to affect the game on any given snap and change the complexity of a game by virtue of a big playmaking sack or making a big tackle in the backfield and forcing a turnover. His athleticism is off the charts and Young can single-handedly take over a football game.

His best game as a Buckeye was in a regular season game against Wisconsin last year. Wisconsin came into the game ranked 13th and appeared to be the Buckeyes top competition in the Big Ten. Young finished the game with four sacks and six tackles and just ruined Wisconsin every chance he got.

For my NFL comparison, I compared Young to Bears All-Pro defensive end/linebacker Khalil Mack. The only other NFL players that can take a game over like Mack are Aaron Donald and Von Miller. Mack uses speed and power to win his matchups on the edge, much like Young does and they both have a penchant for making game changing turnovers on the defensive side of the ball.

One of the signs that Young is a can’t miss prospect is the fact that for all of the holes on their roster, the Redskins have a pretty good front seven that they can build around with players like Jonathan Allen, Montez Sweat, Da’ron Payne and the veteran Ryan Kerrigan is still with them. The Redskins and head coach Ron Rivera understand that Young’s talent is immense and that even though they have good talent on the defensive line, he has Hall of Fame potential and you can’t ever pass that up.

Young is very much worth the hype and for whatever my opinion might be worth, he is one of the best defensive prospects that I have ever seen and he will be a an All-Pro type of player sooner rather than later. He has the collegiate production to back up the hype and all of the accolades that you want in a player of this caliber.

Expect Young to be one of the most dominant defenders in the NFL in the next 2-3 years and live up to the enormous hype that has surrounded Young.