All 49ers

Will the 49ers Re-Sign Chase Young?

He recorded a sack in the Super Bowl, which was impressive, but he also had just 2.5 sacks in 9 regular season games with the 49ers, which was not so impressive.

Grant Cohn

In this story:

The 49ers clearly liked Chase Young a few months ago -- that's why they traded a third-round pick for him at the midseason deadline. It's unclear how they feel about him now that he's a free agent.

He recorded a sack in the Super Bowl, which was impressive, but he also had just 2.5 sacks in 9 regular season games with the 49ers, which was not so impressive. And he's a pass-rushing specialist. He's not good at defending the run. So ideally, he wouldn't play on first or second down -- he'd play only on third down. And he's not that effective on third down.

Which means the 49ers shouldn't offer Young much if anything to return. Maybe a one-year deal with incentives if he plays well, but nothing guaranteed. Because he's not that good, and he had all the incentive to play well last season considering he was an impending free agent on a Super Bowl contender and he still was disappointing. Frankly, they should spend a little more money and get someone better.

The 49ers don't need a pass-rushing specialist, they need a complete defensive end who's good at rushing the quarterback AND stopping the run. Because run defense was a bigger issue than pass rush for the 49ers last season. And if the 49ers can't find a defensive end who can set the edge, then their Wide 9 defensive front won't work. Young simply doesn't fit.

The 49ers should take the loss, let him walk and sign someone else.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Home/News