- Monday, October 23, 2023

One bright spot amid an otherwise dreary Commanders season has been defensive end Chase Young, who is putting up numbers comparable with his 2020 season, when he was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year.

Young added two sacks in Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants, and a third was called back because of a penalty elsewhere on the defense.

However, the Commanders as a whole are now 3-4, with a tough schedule of games ahead, and Washington has a logjam of players on the defensive line, with Young and Montez Sweat both playing on expiring contracts.

That will make Young and Sweat a focus of discussion leaguewide leading up to next Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, when all trades must be completed before the season’s final stretch.

“The only thing I’m focusing on is getting ready for Philadelphia,” coach Ron Rivera said Monday during his weekly press conference, declining to address the speculation.

During Sunday morning’s pregame show, CBS reporter Jonathan Jones said Rivera preferred not to move Sweat or Young. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini said the team had taken calls to take the temperature of the trade market, but did not foresee any imminent action.

Rivera’s incentives align with keeping the pair around. With new ownership taking over, it’s been made clear that this year is an important one for the Commanders to have success on the field, and those two players can contribute to those goals.

However, if ownership has seen enough to believe they are facing a long-term project, getting draft picks in exchange for one or both pass rushers could help accelerate that rebuild. So far there has been no indication that new owner Josh Harris and his team are meddling in the football operations, and they’ve worked to be hands-off as they learn about the team and evaluate its current personnel.

That, combined with what is traditionally a weak trade market in the NFL, make it likely that Young and Sweat stay put past next week’s deadline, though there’s always the chance Sunday’s result against the Eagles swings momentum one way or another.

Rivera said he’s not looking to meddle with personnel, even after a disheartening 14-7 loss to the Giants, noting he wants to keep his team together to continue to develop.

“We’re trying to play the best football we can, and at the same time grow a football team,” Rivera said Monday. “You know, we’re not going to go around cutting a bunch of people, trading for a whole bunch of people, hiring a whole bunch of people. We’re trying to develop a young football team to be a very good football team for the future. And that’s what we’re going to continue to work on.”

Young now has five sacks and is on pace to beat his career high of 7.5 from his rookie season.

Per ESPN’s analytics department, he’s been one of the most effective pass rushers in football over the past month, though Young didn’t want to dive too much into that after Sunday’s game.

“We lost, don’t matter,” Young said in a glum locker room. “I’m just doing my job, man. Just trying to come out with wins.”

Washington’s communication that it’s not interested in trading Young or Sweat could also be a play to raise value.

With both players on expiring contracts, history says it would be hard to get more than a third-round draft pick for either, an uninspiring haul given that both were first-round selections, and Young was picked at No. 2 overall.

Both are eligible for a franchise tag to retain team control next year.

The San Francisco 49ers are the only comparable team in terms of investment in the defensive line, and while it’s technically possible to put all four of Washington’s stars on big long-term deals (Sweat, Young, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne), it would hamstring other areas of the roster, and the results thus far don’t seem to justify paying a premium at the position.

Rivera’s public comments since the loss reflect his optimistic nature, and the knowledge that at 3-4, the team’s postseason goals are still well within reach, no matter how ugly the losses to the Bears and Giants were.

“With 10 games left to go, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

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