One of the biggest storylines for the Washington Football Team going into the 2020 season is surrounding the defensive line, and how dominant it has the potential to be going forward. With the addition of Chase Young, who was selected No. 2 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, a group of five former first-round picks, plus the ever-talented Matt Ioannidis, is set to disrupt offenses across the league this coming season, and hopefully for years to come.
While the line was solid in 2019, it’s the addition of Young that has so many people excited about what’s possible this season. On Wednesday morning, Young joined the crew at #GMFB on NFL Network to discuss just what it means to walk into such a great situation in his first year as a pro.
“I feel like we’re going to be real good, man. They said that we got a D-line full of first-rounders, and I only feel like that puts a target on our back and it’s going to make us rise to that standard,” Young said. “That’s what I’m hoping, and that’s what I know we’re gonna do in this coming season.”
One of the biggest comparisons that have been made this offseason — aside from throwing Young’s name in the same sentence with legendary players like Julius Peppers and Vonn Miller — is one of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Football Team, as far as D-line talent goes. In 2019, the defensive front in San Fran carried the team to a Super Bowl appearance, and now some have gone as far as to question whether or not Washington’s front-five can be quite as good. Young’s thoughts?
“You know, I feel like people can do what they want,” Young said with a chuckle. “I feel like as a group, we know what we want to accomplish, we know what we have to do to try and get in that D-line level where not a lot of teams can get you. Every day just know that we’re working and we’re busting our butts and we’re just focusing on what we have to focus on just to try to get there.”
It may be a far cry to ask Washington’s front to carry the team to even a playoff appearance, but the future is bright with this unit, and success could be just around the corner.
