Through three weeks of the 2021 season, Chase Young has not lived up to the hype established by his own rookie season, causing concern among Washington Football Team faithful about whether his regression is merely an aberration or, worrisomely, his new normal.
Young, who has zero sacks on the season, even drew unflattering comparisons — during a recent conversation between The Sports Junkies and 106.7 The Fan contributor Thom Loverro — to former Washington stars LaVar Arrington and Robert Griffin III.
The LaVar Comparison
When asked for his take on what's going on with Young, Loverro told The Sports Junkies on Wednesday, "Well, I mean, considering the hype about Chase Young and coming off his rookie year. Which, he did create a lot of the hype with his play. He was Defensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL and certainly made his presence felt. But I always had the sense that going into the season that his profile had really outstripped his production a little bit."
"As great a rookie year as he had," Loverro said, "he really hadn't done anything yet to warrant this status as the team leader, the face of the franchise, and, for lack of a better description, a game show contestant on his appearance on Family Feud.
"And I think he's lived up to those questions right now. I think that his absence on the field... he's supposed to be a game-changing player and he's been anything but. When it's visible to the naked eye, when you don't have to break down film to see that he's not having an impact on the game, that's a problem."
"I think it's too early to ask this, but I'm gonna ask it anyway," Junkies host Jason Bishop prefaced. "Is he overhyped?"
"I don't think so. I think he has tremendous talent," Loverro said. "I don't think they whiffed by picking him with the number two pick in the draft. I just think that there's some issues with his priorities. I think there might be some issues, from what I've heard, related to a little bit too much freelancing. Which is very reminiscent of – in my column – of a former great linebacker, a talented linebacker there, named LaVar Arrington."
Arrington, who coincidentally enough was also a second overall pick, in 2000, was a powerhouse talent coming out of Penn State and had some extraordinary highs during his six seasons in Washington, but developed a reputation late in his career, according to his coaches, for going off script (a claim which Arrington has adamantly rebuffed), which paved the way for his benching and eventual divorce from the organization.
"He seems a little undisciplined," Eric Bickel said of Young. "To the naked eye, to the untrained eye, he seems a little undisciplined. That's what it looks like to me."
"Yeah, I mean Ron Rivera keeps talking about guys have to do their jobs," Loverro said. "To me, he's saying that guys are supposed to be in certain places on certain plays. I think one of the guys he's talking about is Chase Young not following his assignments. I think that's a legitimate issue right now."
"I think it's something that can be fixed," he said, "but he is not the player that we... I mean him and Montez Sweat. Both of them. They talked about setting a sack record this year as teammates in the NFL. Well they've got a lot of catching up to do."
The RG3 Comparison
Bickel brought up a recent criticism from NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, who'd observed in a recent edition of 'Baldy's Breakdowns' that Washington's defensive line appeared to get out-hustled by Buffalo's offensive linemen on Sunday, with Baldinger calling the former's efforts "unacceptable."
@WashingtonNFL v @BuffaloBills @JoshAllenQB the only surprise about the outcome is how the #bills didn't score more v this #WFT effort. This isn't how you play football in the #NFL. #BILLSMAFIA #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/BLPfHJjLcx
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) September 28, 2021
Asked if he thought effort might be an issue for Washington's defense, Loverro said, "You know, I can't see it, but if Brian Baldinger sees it, then I've got to take it as pretty much that that could be the issue. I mean, it's a leap to basically criticize the effort of players."
"When you're a casual viewer like I consider myself, Brian Baldinger breaks down this play for a living and he played in the league, so you have to take it seriously," he said. "I don't know. What's disturbing for me were some of the post-game comments that came out of Chase Young. When he described his argument with Jack Del Rio on the sideline. He basically said that when they come back into the building, no B.S.-ing. If someone is B.S.-ing, let me know because I ain't having it. Well, what is that? What's he talking about? That's like cutting one in an elevator and looking around at everyone else to blame."
"Yeah, EB," said John Auville, directing a jab at his gaseous Junkies co-host. "Like EB does here at work all the time."
"Well, I've been known to do that," Bickel said. "I did think that he did have a comment or two that could be interpreted as throwing the other guys on the bus, when he was like, 'Us defensive linemen, we don't know what's going on behind us' and 'all of us have to make plays, we all have to be in sync' — the line, the middle linebackers, the secondary, etc. And that was dangerously close to RGIII territory, I thought."
"Yes it was. It absolutely was," Loverro agreed with the comparison. "This is from the handbook of basically Team Captain 101. It's never anyone else's fault. It's always your fault. You always take the blame. You don't look around to share the trouble, you take it on your own shoulders. And he's a team captain. They made a big deal about that. That's not the kind of language you want to hear from a team captain: Well what about the other guys? Don't just look at me. That's a little bit bothersome as well."
Read Loverro's latest column in The Washington Times:
