Chase Young posted 10 sacks in 12 games for the Saints in 2025, his first double-digit sack season as a professional and the clearest evidence yet that the former No. 2 overall pick has recaptured what made him a generational college pass rusher. That total was just behind Cameron Jordan’s team-leading 10.5 sacks, despite Young missing five games with a calf injury to start the year.
The number matters, but it doesn’t tell the full story. Young’s breakout wasn’t simply about staying healthy or finding a comfortable scheme. It was about rediscovering the foundational skill that terrorized Big Ten offenses in 2019: his ability to time the snap.
How Snap Timing Fueled Chase Young’s Career Year in New Orleans
When Brenden Jaimes, the former Nebraska offensive lineman who played for the Chargers from 2021-24 and is now on the Patriots practice squad, was asked about the toughest opponent he faced in college, he didn’t hesitate: “Chase Young. He was that guy. Just electric. The way he timed the snap of the ball.”
That snap anticipation made Young virtually unblockable at Ohio State, where he set the school’s single-season sack record with 16.5 in 2019. He finished fourth in Heisman voting that year, the ninth defensive player since 1982 even nominated for the award. Draft analysts raved about his first step, his burst off the edge, his ability to beat tackles before they could set their feet.
Then came the ACL and patellar tendon tear in November 2021. The surgery required grafting tissue from his left knee to repair his right, extending his recovery timeline and robbing him of explosiveness. Young played just 12 games combined in 2021 and 2022. When he did return, the burst looked diminished. He posted 1.5 sacks in 115 snaps over his final three games in 2022. The pressure numbers were there in subsequent seasons, but the sacks weren’t following.
The 2025 season changed that equation. Per PFSN’s EDGE Impact Score, Young registered an 86.5, ranking 11th among all edge defenders and earning a B grade. That marked his best professional season since 2021, when he posted an 87.8 before the injury ended his year in Week 10. His scores in 2023 and 2024 hovered in the high 70s, making this a significant bounce-back year.
Young led the Saints with 49 total pressures despite appearing in five fewer games than Carl Granderson, who finished second with 39 in 17 contests. The efficiency gains showed up everywhere: 10 sacks in roughly 540 snaps translates to production that rivaled what he showed in Columbus, when he was recording a sack every 30-odd snaps against Big Ten competition.
The strip-sack touchdown against Tennessee in Week 17 encapsulated Young’s rediscovered explosiveness. He beat his man off the right edge, ripped the ball from Cam Ward’s hands, and returned it 33 yards for a score that swung the game’s momentum. It was the kind of play that reminded scouts why he was a once-in-a-generation prospect, the kind of violent disruption that defined his Ohio State tape.
What Young’s Breakthrough Means for New Orleans’ Future
Saints GM Mickey Loomis drew criticism when New Orleans signed Young to a three-year, $51 million extension before the 2025 season. The investment looked risky for a player who had never exceeded 7.5 sacks professionally and was coming off neck surgery. Loomis bet on upside and won.
“When he came back after Week 5, that really impacted our defense and the way they performed from that point forward was pretty spectacular,” Loomis said after the season.
Young’s presence transformed New Orleans’ defensive identity. With both Young and Jordan reaching double-digit sacks, the Saints became one of three teams in 2025 to feature a 10-sack duo, joining the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions. Young was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December after posting five sacks over the final five games of the regular season, his first monthly honor since winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020.
Linebacker Demario Davis, who watched Young develop over two seasons in New Orleans, pointed to the work that didn’t show up on broadcasts. “Man, he won all those battles in the dark,” Davis said. “I think everybody is seeing the type of player that Chase Young is capable of being, but it’s because of what he’s done in the dark.”
Young himself acknowledged finding something in New Orleans he lacked in Washington. “God put me in a place with two veteran players that could kind of teach me the ways,” he said. “I came into the league, I didn’t really have that.”
At 26, Young remains under contract through 2027 and represents a foundational piece as New Orleans builds around Tyler Shough and a young core. The player who once seemed destined for the Jadeveon Clowney journeyman path has instead re-established himself as a legitimate game-wrecker, the kind of edge rusher who can anchor a defense for years. Jordan’s future at 36 remains uncertain. Young’s is suddenly the clearest it’s been since he left Ohio State.
