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Chase Young’s injury will have a fantasy impact for the rest of the season. The number 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the rest of the season. Young is the Washington Football Team’s best edge pass rusher, and his absence will weaken the already struggling Football Team defense.
Chase Young won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 and entered this season with high expectations to again lead the Football Team’s resurgent defense. Both did not go as planned as Young only had 1.5 sacks by Week 10 of this season. The Football Team overall has struggled defensively as well.
How will Chase Young's injury affect the Washington Football Team's defense and fantasy?
Washington currently ranks 27th in total passing yards (2,514 Yds) given up to opposing teams and 31st in passing touchdowns (22 TDs) given up. For advanced stats like air yards and average depth of target (DADOT), the Football Team ranks 31th and 27th, respectively. Their defense has given up 1,508 total air yards on completions this season at an average depth of target of 8.9 yards per target. For fantasy, air yards and DADOT are just some of the stats fantasy managers can use to project how a defense will fare overall that week. Additionally, fantasy managers can use these defensive stats to project what the quarterback, running back, and wide receivers will do against a certain team. Tight ends too, if you need to find a reason to roster someone other than Travis Kelce and Darren Waller (which is often because the TE position in fantasy is a wasteland, but that’s a whole other separate article).
The Football Team’s run defense is better, ranking 5th in rushing yards given up to opposing teams with only 6 touchdowns given up. The run defense stats may be skewed because teams are focused on throwing the ball against this defense.
While Chase Young could have been going through a sophomore slump, there’s no doubt that his absence will be felt along the defensive front. With one less talented pass rusher, Washington’s pass defense will be even weaker. Their remaining games include teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys (twice), and the Philadelphia Eagles (twice). These teams and their fantasy skill players are great candidates to target against the Football Team’s pass defense.
NFL defenses are unpredictable on a year-to-year basis. This season, even without Chase Young’s unfortunate injury, it’s evident that the Football Team’s defense will not match last year’s excellence. Fantasy managers can at least project that any team going up against Washington will have a plus matchup.
