What could Chase Young and Montez Sweat provide in sack numbers this season for the Washington Football Team?
If you know anything about the Washington Football Team, you know how ridiculously dominant their defensive line is. The unit has a lot of stars, but none bigger than Chase Young and Montez Sweat. Here’s a fun question to wonder about while we wait for things to ramp up. How many sacks could those two get combined in the upcoming season realistically?
The first thing you have to do is look at the rest of the line. And seriously, at this point it’s kind of getting out of hand. They had a backup go out and dominate last year, almost as if Washington were trying to they had depth pieces that were better than some teams’ starters.
Tim Settle was that backup, he picked up five sacks and five tackles for loss despite playing in just 33 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. That’s wild. Meanwhile, Jonathan Allen is an absolute stud and he just got paid like one. Da’Ron Payne is a monster in the middle. Matthew Ioannidis was considered their best defensive lineman heading into 2020 but appeared in just three games last season due to injury. He still managed 1.5 sacks.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, because everyone has to eat. You can’t expect insane numbers from two players when there are so many others that might get their hands on a couple of sacks as well. And that’s not even adding all the other defensive players that could throw in a couple themselves (Jamin Davis could be fun his rookie year and pick up a few and don’t sleep on Landon Collins getting a chance to blitz more).
That being said, there should be plenty of opportunities for Young and Sweat. Allen, Payne, and Ioannidis are great, but they more than likely won’t take away too many sacks. They’ll disrupt pass plays and destroy run plays, but Young and Sweat will get there first most of the time. Settle is still going to be more of a reliever as well.
Now let’s look at the two players. Chase Young had 7.5 sacks in 15 games in his rookie year. He was utterly dominant and if it felt like he had more that’s because he did everything. Four pass deflections, 10 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, one touchdown, and so many near-sacks.
That last one isn’t an official stat or anything, but just imagine when he polishes his game a little bit more. The Washington Football Team struck gold when they got that second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Montez Sweat picked up seven sacks in 16 games in his rookie year (2019), then had nine sacks in 16 games last season. He was fantastic last year. Six pass deflections, 12 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one interception and one touchdown. Sweat was a monster.
What is so scary is that defenses can double team one. They can’t double-team both. And even if you double one of them and have some superstar on the other, you still have to worry about the rest of the defensive line.
With that in mind, they likely aren’t going to give someone a wall every play. Let’s say you double Young for the first half. There’s a strong chance Sweat takes advantage and picks up two sacks. Now you have to worry about him, and if you decide to give him the double in the second half — it’s Young’s turn to eat. See the problem?
Young’s going to improve. He’s already a monster, so that’s terrifying to think about. But he’s going to improve, heavily. Double-digit sacks will be the norm for him. Meanwhile, Sweat’s already shown that he’s working on his game and improving. He took a nice step forward in 2020 and another could be in-store for this season.
What’s most exciting though is that the two work so well together. Making the Washington Football Team pass rush so deadly. They feed off each other’s energy, play to each other’s strengths, and make each other better. So what’s the final answer? Let’s go with 25 — 25 sacks combined for the two in 2021. Don’t be surprised if they throw on a few extra for good measure though.