The Commanders handed the Eagles their first loss of the season on Monday night to end Week 10 and now they're getting Chase Young as the cherry on top. Washington is expected to activate their former No. 2 overall pick this week off the physically unable to perform list and, as long as everything goes according to plan, Young will play in Week 11 when the club travels to Houston to face the Texans, according to ESPN.
Young tore his ACL almost exactly one year ago on Nov. 14 in a Week 10 matchup against the Buccaneers. Washington opened up his 21-day practice window earlier this month on Nov. 2 but was not brought onto the active roster for either of the club's previous two games. While there is still time on Young's practice window before he'd automatically revert to season-ending IR, it appears like the 23-year-old is showing the Commanders he's ready to contribute in some capacity.
Naturally, this is a massive boost to a Commanders defense that already ranks 12th in the NFL in DVOA coming out of Week 11. When healthy, Young is one of the budding superstars on the defensive side of the ball. He was billed as a generational pass-rushing prospect coming out of Ohio State which prompted Washington to take him with the second overall pick.
During his rookie season, Young lived up to that draft status, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year after totaling 7.5 sacks in 15 games. Young's sophomore campaign, however, did see a dip in production before he went down due to injury, In nine games he had just 1.5 sacks and 26 tackles.
With him on the doorstep of his return, he'll look to get back to being the player we saw in 2020 and look to be a boost for a Washington club that has sneakily won four of its last five games to move to .500 on the season.
