D8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
professional football
about two per game.
It is unlikely Young will play
on many defensive lines with so
many high draft picks or such
depth. Young may never again
see so few double teams. So what
can be done?
Washington seldom uses
stunts to let Young use his agility
to loop around a defensive tackle
and rush with speed up the gut.
With a head of steam, he plays
much “bigger” than he does
coming out of a stance.
Also, while Young’s
athleticism looks elite, his polish
and trickery seem raw. All those
D -line “moves” we’ve watched
for years — the spins, the swims,
the arm bars and arm-unders —
seldom show up in Young’s
game. He probably didn’t need
them at Ohio State, but he can
learn them.
What may eventually prove
most enjoyable for Washington
is not that Young arrived as the
finished product but that a
player with a local background,
who is still only 21, constantly
got better. That is certainly his
athletic pedigree coming out of
DeMatha Catholic High. For
generations, D.C.’s experience of
Stags athletes is that they work,
study and improve.
Chase Young just had a bad
penalty at the end of a tough
loss. He always will be compared
to the rest of a draft class that
may produce several star
quarterbacks. That pressure is
never going to go away. But a few
hard knocks, after years of
praise, never hurt anybody.
My antennae sense that it gets
better from here.
[email protected]For more by Thomas Boswell, visit
washingtonpost.com/boswell.10 rushers were taken at No. 2,
including Von Miller, Julius
Peppers, Neil Smith, Cornelius
Bennett and Lawrence Taylor.
They combined for 38 Pro Bowls
and averaged 115 career sacks; all
will end up in the Hall of Fame
or get serious consideration.
The others are 2019 star
rookie Nick Bosa (now hurt),
Washington’s LaVar Arrington
(three Pro Bowls), Chris Long
(70 sacks), Kevin Hardy (one Pro
Bowl) and just one “bust” —
Quentin Coryatt.
Fun fact: Washington passed
on Brian Urlacher to take
Arrington with the No. 2 pick of
the 2000 draft. Because
Arrington was a linebacker at
257 pounds, almost as big as
Young, he could roam and
averaged 95 tackles per year in
his brief prime. As a defensive
end, Young has 22 tackles — tied
for 12th on the team.
By switching to a 4-3 defense
this year, Washington may have
reduced Young’s chances to show
LaVar-like versatility. Young is
going to be judged on how often
he sacks, knocks down, hits,
pressures or hurries
quarterbacks, plus the tackles for
loss and fumbles he may cause.
How often can he “get home” on
the QB or cause havoc?
By that standard, what do you
have to do to be great? Let’s
assume that sacks, tackles for
loss, fumbles caused or
recovered and quarterback hits,
although not exactly equal, are
all “big plays.” The Rams’ Aaron
Donald, the current gold
standard for defensive linemen,
has 419 of those four types of big
plays in 103 career games —
about four per game. Young has
13.5 such plays in seven full
games, plus a bit of another —In a salary cap system that pri-
oritizes young, cheap talent, un-
drafted free agents are the young-
est and the cheapest. They always
account for the largest portion of
NFL rosters by draft status, about
25 or 30 percent, because there are
so many of them. But this year was
different. Teams signed fewer un-
drafted free agents, in part be-
cause of smaller training camp
rosters amid the coronavirus pan-
demic. And for those who did
make it to camp, the lack of pre-
season games robbed them of the
traditional opportunities to im-
press coaches and earn roster
spots.
Even with the reduced number
of undrafted free agents, only
12 percent made an active roster
before Week 1, according to Over-
TheCap.com. But Wright was one
of them, and he has continued his
improbable trajectory, playing the
third-most offensive snaps in the
league among undrafted free
agents.
For that brief moment Sunday,
it appeared his rise was going to
include his first NFL touchdown
after he hurdled Detroit Lions cor-
nerback Justin Coleman just a few
yards from the goal line. But he
landed off balance and stepped
out of bounds at the 2-yard line,
popping up with a frustrated roar.
The near miss is a microcosm of
his career since he went undrafted
— headed where he wants to go
but not there yet. And in a way, his
journey illuminates the undrafted
free agent experience.
“This situation I was coming
into, I had to take it up a notch,” he
said. “My whole life I’ve been a
worker. I’m no stranger to work,
nor do I shy away from it. So I was
just about it.”
‘He has sacrificed so much’
The first sign of trouble for
Wright was, as for so many others,
the mid-March weekend when the
world changed. Temple was one of
the many schools nationwide to
cancel its pro day, which put fringe
prospects such as him in a difficult
spot. The wide receiver needed the
audition in front of NFL person-
nel. After a disappointing senior
year, he hadn’t received invites to
several high-profile showcases, in-
cluding the NFL combine.
Wright had spent two months
preparing for the pro day. Now the
world of NFL pre-draft training
was chaos, and Ed Wasielewski,
Wright’s agent, scrambled to find
another place to drill. He tried
Penn State and Pittsburgh, but
they canceled. He asked a private
gym in New Jersey, but then the
state announced travel restric-
WRIGHT FROM D1
Longer
odds not
obstacle
to Wright
Young’s high football IQ keeps
him in proper position, seldom
suckered like a rookie by
misdirection. Foes respect him
enough that they seldom make
him the point of attack. Young is
also often “in the vicinity” of
making plays but not close
enough. The facts: Young is less
effective statistically, per snap,
than Ryan Kerrigan, who lost his
starting job.
Young comes under the
microscope not only because
Washington took him at No. 2
but also because of whom it
didn’t draft at that spot —
namely, quarterbacks Tua
Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.
Such a move would have
necessitated a trade of Dwayne
Haskins, the first-round pick
from 2019 who is currently on
the bench. Washington may have
mis-evaluated all three
quarterbacks — overrating
Haskins and underrating the
other two, either of whom could
have become central to its future.
Put all this together and you
sense the weight of the Young
pick — and the burden on the
young player. He’s going to be
the subject of constant debate —
and at a position that offers
meaningful metrics but not the
kind of exhaustive stats we get in
MLB, the NBA or at some other
NFL positions.
Pro Football Focus says
Young’s raw stats don’t do justice
to a strong rookie year. CBSwatched every Young snap, often
in slow motion, to see what this
exalted prodigy might become.
I’m still waiting for the real
Chase Young to show up.
Young is a good pro, a high-
energy player, but not an impact
star so far — or close to it. You
don’t feel his presence. He
doesn’t distort opposing offenses
and is often handled, even
schooled, one-on-one, by tackles
who outweigh him by 60 pounds.
Even though Young is 6-foot-5
and 264 pounds, they blunt his
bull rushes, often easily, and
with their NFL-level balance and
footwork, they stay engaged and
redirect his speed rushes far past
the quarterback.
If Young had been picked
somewhere in the middle of the
first round like Washington’s
other defensive linemen —
Daron Payne, Ryan Kerrigan,
Jonathan Allen and Montez
Sweat — then you would just say:
“Even first-round picks have to
learn. He’ll be fine.” But No. 2
picks are gold. No, make that
uranium. In the past 58 years,
Washington has not had a single
No. 1 pick and only three No. 2s.
At that level, instant analysis
is inevitable. It comes with the
altitude. Young’s stats —
mediocre across the board and
far below those of Sweat, the
team’s other starting defensive
end — may understate his value.
BOSWELL FROM D1
THOMAS BOSWELL
Washington still waiting
for Young to make impact
could understand what he was
saying. Nina had never heard her
son this emotional before, and she
inched to the edge of the bed,
scanning her closet for clothes and
planning a drive to Washington.
She braced for bad news. Nina
estimated it was about two min-
utes before she and Randy could
hear their son.
“I made it,” Isaiah remembered
saying during the proudest mo-
ment of his life.
The past three months have
been a blur. In the week after the
call, Wright found an apartment,
signed an NFL contract and made
his debut. Two weeks later, the
team thrust him into an expanded
role after slot receiver Steven Sims
Jr. suffered a toe injury. There have
been positives and negatives (in-
cluding a shoulder injury), but
Wright has shown that, in this
season unlike any other, he could
keep growing.
One of the keys, Wright said, is
his mind-set. After camp, he
stopped writing a list of daily goals
and started reading a Bible verse
every morning. This week, the
theme has been patience.
“All these years, you really can’t
exhale,” Nina said. “You don’t
know if what everyone’s telling
you is really going to happen. Pop
Warner, high school, college — you
can’t predict anything. He was fi-
nally able to exhale.”
[email protected]met with Washington wide receiv-
ers coach Jim Hostler, who as-
sured him the team believed in
him and said, “Go have fun.” He
spent time alone, reflecting, and
realized every time “I had a nega-
tive mind-set, I only got a negative
result.” So he adopted a familiar
approach. He believed he could
learn positivity the same way he
did a playbook. He wrote a list of
goals.
Contribute.
Get 1% better every day.
Remain poised.
Remain hungry.
Slowly, Wright checked off
goals, becoming more consistent
on the field and in his positive
mind-set. By late August, he was a
regular on the second-team of-
fense. Days before roster cuts,
Wright leaped to snare a deep pass
against tight coverage in practice,
drawing praise from Rivera.
Four days later, Wright left the
team facility for what could have
been the final time. Roster cuts
were coming the next day. Nina
texted Wasielewski to confirm
they probably wouldn’t know
whether Isaiah had made it until
Saturday evening. She went to bed
nervous.
The next morning, her phone
rang at about 7:30. She awoke
Randy, Wright’s father, thinking,
“No, this is too early.” On the other
end, her son was sobbing. He cried
so hard neither she nor Randyto deal with things in a different
way,” he said. “You have to plan for
the uncomfortable things that
come about.”
During the summer, Washing-
ton’s receiving corps was thinned
by injuries and legal trouble.
Wright was confident he had
worked hard enough to have a
shot at the roster, but when he left
for the airport, his mom, Nina,
knew he was nervous. Other play-
ers, drafted players, came from
bigger programs and had better
resources during quarantine. She
texted him a prayer.
“Today is the big day that Isaiah
will embark on his next adven-
ture,” she wrote. “He has sacrificed
so much to make his dream a
reality.”‘Finally able to exhale’
Days into camp, Wright felt a
familiar frustration. He was dwell-
ing on his mistakes, replaying
poor routes or missed assign-
ments in his head on a loop. In
college, he said, he was “really
negative-minded” and often let
setbacks snowball.
“The frustration comes from
the intelligence he has,” said Rod
Carey, his last Temple coach. “It
comes from a good place. He
knows how things are supposed to
be.”
Wright knew he couldn’t get
discouraged, so he talked with
family members and friends. Heenough.
Wright was unfazed. He learned
at Temple, where he had three
coaches in four seasons, to trust
his process. When gyms were shut
down near his parents’ home in
Waterbury, Conn., and the track
nearby was padlocked, Wright ran
in the street, YouTubed home
workouts and found a local passer
to throw to him a few times a week.
To keep his optimal weight, he
controlled his sweet tooth and ab-
stained from fried Oreos.
“It was hard,” he said. “Them
things are delicious.”
In late April, Wright watched
the draft in his family’s living
room. He was frustrated that he
went unselected, but he said it
“didn’t matter” how he got to the
NFL as long as he stuck around.
He signed with Washington be-
cause it had a new coaching staff,
inexperienced wide receivers and
an offense that prized his experi-
ence at both wideout and running
back.
Wright quickly devoted himself
to the playbook. He used a strategy
he had refined during the turn-
over at Temple: writing and re-
writing concepts until they lodged
in his brain. Sometimes he asked
others to read him the plays so he
could envision hearing them in
the huddle. He filled pages and
pages, and his coaches noticed
during videoconferences.
“[Temple] kind of prepared metions. Wasielewski tried every-
thing. Everything ended the same
way.
“You could not get ahead of
covid,” Wasielewski said. “It was a
nightmare.” He paused. “You ever
open up one of those boxes as a gift
and there’s a second box inside?
Well, this was like that, but there’s
eight or nine boxes, and at one
point, you’re like, ‘Where’s the
damn gift?’ ”
Finally, on April 1, Wright drove
to West Hartford, Conn., and
worked out at Kingswood Oxford,
the high school where Coach Ja-
son Martinez used to see him
make defenders “crumble like a
Drake’s coffee cake.” The setup
“wasn’t perfect,” Wasielewski said,
but Wright performed combine
drills, including the 40-yard dash,
which he ran in 4.58 seconds. He
tested well enough to be drafted in
a normal year.
But Wright missed a key part of
the process — the in-person inter-
actions that can lead to a team
feeling comfortable with drafting
a player. One of Wasielewski’s cli-
ents, DaeSean Hamilton, was a
similar player in 2018, and he ex-
celled in interviews with coaches
and physicals with team doctors.
Denver drafted him in the fourth
round. Wasielewski said about
20 teams asked about Wright —
his 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame
alone merited interest — but num-
bers and highlights weren’tJOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Washington wideout Isaiah Wright, here being s topped just short of the end zone last weekend against the Lions, said, “I’m no stranger to work, nor do I shy away from it.”often doubles his totals — with
five sacks, 12 hits, five
knockdowns, 17 pressures and
four hurries of QBs, as well as
nine tackles for loss and two
forced fumbles.
Even Kerrigan, in his
10th year and with only
211 snaps, is close to Young’s
production with 4.5 sacks, five
hits, seven pressures and two QB
hurries, as well as four tackles
for losses and a recovered
fumble.
Young simply must be better
than this. His measurable skills
at the NFL combine for strength,
agility, speed and quickness were
off the charts. His early-season
injury (a strained groin)
presumably has healed. NFL
evaluators are not idiots —
especially about edge rushers
drafted No. 2 overall.
In the 40 drafts before Young,Sports notes Young has the third-
highest pressure-creation rate
(8.9 percent) on Washington
among those who have rushed
the quarterback at least
100 times, though “he hasn’t
exactly met the future Hall of
Famer expectations.”
Since this is an emotional
issue for Washington football
fans, let’s start with those facts.
Also, it’s a minor sore spot for me
since I was with the multitude
who said Washington should
take Young, not Tagovailoa or
Herbert. Having lots of company
doesn’t change being wrong.
In 369 snaps, Young has
3.5 sacks, four hits, one
knockdown, nine pressures and
four QB hurries, as well as
5.5 tackles for loss and one
forced fumble.
In 373 snaps, Sweat tops
Young in all categories — andJOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Chase Young, the No. 2 overall draft pick, has 3.5 sacks in his rookie
season, but only one came in his past five games for Washington.