While preparing to sit in for Kevin Sheehan on Monday morning, Lynnell Willingham was scrolling through social media when he came across "this cult of fans that for whatever reason cannot stand No. 99."
Willingham is talking about the Washington Commanders' Chase Young and he "finds it really difficult to believe that we as a town... I don't understand this narrative that surrounds Chase that he's injury prone... and the quote that I was given, was 'He has proven nothing and is always hurt.' Is that an accurate way to describe Chase Young?" (The conversation gets going around the 9:00-minute mark in the audio player below.)
Young left his third career game with an injury and missed the next game due to injury during the 2020 season, in which he had 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles 10 tackles for loss and 12 QB hits en route to winning the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.
In Week 9 of 2021, he sustained a torn ACL that kept him out the remaining eight games of that year and the first 15 of last season. So entering his fourth NFL season, the former No. 2 overall pick has played in just 27 of 50 possible games.
Willingham wonders if fans across the area are looking at things too critically with Young as compared to other Commanders who have dealt with injuries during this offseason and that he is "the only one who is rooting for [Young] to succeed." Doc Walker had an explanation for that.
"Chase Young stays in your head, he stays a subject matter and that's what happens when you're the second pick, that goes along with it," Walker said.
Perhaps the 'narrative' could be about the number of times head coach Ron Rivera has talked about Young's maturity and work ethic. And there is that in his second year with Washington, Young's numbers were down with just 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and four quarterback hits through nine games.
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