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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers defensive end Chase Young hasn’t been with the team for a full week yet but is already embracing his new home.
Speaking to Bay Area media for the first time since the Niners traded a compensatory third-round pick to the Washington Commanders for him last Tuesday, Young made it clear that he’s happy to rejoin college teammate Nick Bosa on a team that is 5-3 and sitting in first place in the NFC West division.
“I wasn’t mad,” Young said of his first reaction to the trade. “Nick is here, always been a big brother to me. … Got in here last week, just the culture, the vibe is a lot different. I definitely know that I’m in the building with winners.”
As the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, Young spent three-plus injury-plagued seasons with the Commanders. And though he’d returned close to his Defensive Rookie of the Year form this season, lingering concerns about Young’s right knee — he tore the ACL and ruptured the patellar tendon in that knee in 2021 — left Washington to decline his fifth-year option for 2024.
That means Young can be a free agent in the offseason (barring a tag), and that put him squarely in the crosshairs for a trade if the Commanders didn’t get off to a good start. At the time of the deal, the Commanders were 3-5 and had already traded away fellow pass-rusher Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears.
Given all of that, Young said he was not surprised to hear that he was dealt roughly 90 minutes before last week’s trade deadline but said he found out about the deal through social media.
Still, Young didn’t direct any anger at his former team for trading him.
“I know who I am,” Young said. “I’m a competitor. So I’m going to compete. I don’t know what they’re doing over there [in Washington]. That’s over my head. I’m just going to be Chase Young and I’m going to compete to the best that I can.”
In San Francisco, the Niners are seeking a boost to a defense that has sagged during a three-game losing streak that has followed a 5-0 start. Their hope is that Young can join Bosa, his former Ohio State teammate and close friend, and defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave to round out one of the league’s most dangerous defensive lines.
At Ohio State, Young and Bosa combined for 33 sacks over the 2017 and ’18 seasons, and Young brings a 25% pass rush win rate this season, a minimum of an 8% upgrade over any of the Niners’ other ends who have played opposite Bosa this season.
Despite San Francisco’s hefty investments in that defensive line, the Niners’ sack rate of 5.3% and pressure rate of 26.3% rank 27th and 24th in the NFL, respectively. Some of that can be directed at teams scheming ways to get the ball out quick or move the pocket, but it’s well below the expectations that group set for itself going into the season.
General manager John Lynch hopes Young can help turn the near misses into more sacks and production.
“In my mind we’re really good up there, and now we’re hopefully even better if this thing comes to fruition with Chase,” Lynch said. “We put a lot of resources there. Those guys need to be not just good, they need to be really good and dominant and wreak havoc and all those things. And I feel like it’s on its way and we need to do that. And that takes everybody.”
Five minutes after the trade was made official, Young said he heard from Bosa, who was excited to be back working with Young, especially considering how unlikely it once seemed.
“Even in college we never thought that we would ever be able to play with each other again,” Young said. “I think it’s going to be just like in college, just a race to the quarterback kind of. It’s going to be real fun, that’s all I know.”
Upon arrival in the Bay Area, Young went to the Niners’ facility and quickly set about working with defensive line coaches Kris Kocurek and Darryl Tapp. Young said he and Tapp spent extra time on the field walking through everything and emphasizing the importance of the details required to play his role in the defense.
During Monday’s practice, Young — in his new No. 92 jersey — spent plenty of time picking Bosa’s brain and getting instant feedback on things that will be expected of him.
Because Young can be a free agent this offseason and the Niners are unlikely to pay yet another defensive lineman top-of-market money, the natural assumption is that Young will be with the team for only the rest of the season.
But there’s a lot of football between now and then, and much of Young’s market will be determined by how he performs over the team’s final nine games and any potential playoff contests. That’s why Young isn’t concerning himself with the future. For now, his focus is on staying healthy and productive and letting the rest work itself out.
“I’m not even worried about that right now,” Young said. “I’m just worried about learning this playbook and just being the best player that I can be.”