Chase Young
New Orleans SaintsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 12 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
2020 DROY plus the 2019 Heisman runner-up plus the 2025 tier 2 (#15) Saints breakout creates one of the largest career-reset arcs in recent edge defender memory. The Ohio State pedigree plus the 2nd overall draft slot established the elite expectations that the ACL recovery and subsequent journeyman chapter disrupted. The 2026 question is whether Young holds tier 3 or better across a full second Saints season or whether the 2025 finish was a one-year context spike.
Young came out of Ohio State as the Washington Commanders' 1st-round pick (2nd overall) in 2020 after winning the 2019 Heisman Trophy runner-up and Bronko Nagurski Trophy. He won the 2020 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year before tearing his ACL in 2021. He bounced through the 49ers in 2023 before signing with the New Orleans Saints in 2024. His STTM career runs tier 5 (#36) rookie DROY, tier 8 (#106) in 2021 ACL year, tier 8 (#82) in 2023, tier 6 (#45) in 2024, and tier 2 (#15) in 2025.
Strengths
- 2019 Heisman runner-up plus Bronko Nagurski Trophy plus 2020 DROY plus the 2nd overall draft slot establishes the highest pedigree of any active edge defender.
- Tier 2 (#15) breakout in his second Saints season post-ACL recovery confirms the elite pass-rush ceiling is still reachable.
Concerns
- 2021 ACL tear plus four years of post-injury tier 5-8 production raises real questions about whether the 2025 finish locks in the recovery.
- Career arc volatility from tier 5 rookie to tier 8 ACL year to tier 2 in 2025 puts the 2026 projection dependent on continued Saints scheme fit.
What to watch: Whether Young holds tier 3 or better across the full 2026 Saints season, the threshold for confirming the 2025 tier 2 finish was structural rather than situational.