How many sacks will Chase Young accumulate in 2023?
Well, Wednesday night, I discovered former Washington wide receiver Anthony Armstrong had stated he believed the Over/Under for Young’s sack total this 2023 season should be 6.5.
Let's talk minicamp and if Chase Young is +/-6.5 sacks this season. https://t.co/ILZ2hVAX0u
— Anthony Armstrong (@MrArmstrong13) June 8, 2023
6.5? Wait, 6.5??
How did that happen that folks are actually thinking the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft in his fourth season will only generate 6.5 sacks?
If you are unfamiliar with over/under, the idea is that the folks setting the number, attempt to set the number where they will manufacture the most action (betting money action) where it will come from both sides (over and under).
Young injured his knee during the 2021 season against Tampa Bay. He then remained out the first 15 weeks of 2022 before appearing in the last three games in Weeks 16-18.
The former Ohio State All-American and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2020) pleased players, coaches and fans when he reported for the mandatory OTAs this week (June 6-8). He has been wearing a rather large brace for now, and all hopes are that Young is simply being cautious, not taking any chances as this is only the beginning of June.
More Chase Young during the media-filming portion of minicamp: pic.twitter.com/wvDY7GLwFb
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) June 6, 2023
It was noted by Mitchell Tischler (NBC Sports Washington) that Young was still wearing a brace, though Phidarian Mathis, injured in 2022, was not wearing a brace.
Interesting to see – obviously not all knee injuries are the same – Chase Young injured in November 2021 has a pretty substantial knee brace and Phidarian Mathis (#98) in the video below injured his knee in September of 2022 and is without any extra support pic.twitter.com/ZIUmVnkWHz
— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) June 6, 2023
Young is going into a huge contract year for himself. The former Buckeye has already stated he is motivated. In 2020, he tallied 7.5 sacks, and Young this year knows he has not been offered the fifth-year option. There is plenty of motivation with those two facts alone.
If you had been asked after his 7.5 sacks in 2020, what would you predict as a sack total for Young in 2021? No doubt, the 6.5 prediction reveals that there are some out there whose expectations of Young have certainly declined and are trending downward.
Well, it’s only early June. Let’s at least wait until we see how Young looks in a preseason game before we determine what his sack total will be this season.
6.5? Perhaps when Young learns of that low total being predicted, he will have yet another reason to be highly motivated to prove everyone wrong.
