The 5 edge rushers whose pass rush get off improved the most from 2023 average to 2024 Week 1. pic.twitter.com/ahd4xZj2Vh
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 10, 2024
Everyone spends the offseason trying to get better. Putting in hours in the weight room and working on the field after practice separates those who are going through the motions from those who want to be great. But some players are dealing with even more unique circumstances. Look at Chase Young, the New Orleans Saints defensive end who signed his contract one day in March and underwent neck surgery the next. He spent his offseason working to recover from an ailment that slowed him down last season.
And the proof is in his performance. ESPN sports analytics writer Seth Walder shared an eye-opening graphic comparing the fastest pass rushers off the snap in the first week of 2024’s games to their averages from 2023. And nobody made more improvement than Young.
Walder found that Young got off the line of scrimmage 0.66 seconds after the snap in the Saints’ season-opening win over the Carolina Panthers. That was a full 0.16 better than his average a year ago (0.81), and it was a bigger jump than anyone else made around the NFL. Walder noted that this is a very stable stat with little variation from one year to the next. New York Giants pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux trailed Young with an improvement of 0.14 seconds, but no other player was faster than 0.13.
That’s a significant gap. It helps explain why Young played like he did last season — he drew a lot of criticism from San Francisco 49ers fans who, excited by their midseason trade for him, noticed he was slow to react and hesitant to rally to the ball. He was playing through a neck injury that required offseason surgery. Now he’s well and looking more like his old self.
Just ask his old teammates. When the Saints kicked off training camp in August, former Ohio State linebacker Pete Werner commented on Young moving with rare agility — something he’d first noticed when they were both Buckeyes, and that he now compared to other all-world athletes in New Orleans side by side. Young is different. We’re seeing that in his stats, the stories his opponents are telling about him, and the advanced stats tracking his every move on the field. If he keeps it up he could be one of the highest-paid players in free agency next spring. He just might end up being too valuable for the Saints to let walk away.
