Ron Rivera Believes 2021 Was An 'Awakening' For Chase Young

Ron Rivera expects Chase Young to be ready from the start in 2022.

Chase Young entered the 2021 season with huge expectations after taking the league by storm as a rookie for the Washington Commanders.

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A torn ACL ended Young's season in Week 10 after a lackluster start. He totaled just 1.5 sacks before going down for the season. Head coach Ron Rivera believes that this could lead to Young entering the season with a different mindset.

"I think for Chase, it was a little bit of an awakening, a little bit of a realization," Rivera said during the NFL annual meetings in Palm Beach, FL on Tuesday.

Rivera said 4 Chase Young '21 was "a little bit of an awakening, a little bit of a realization. I appreciate how focused he is; he really is attacking his offseason."
Then:"For us, hopefully the realization we hadn't arrived has set in & that just showing up is not good enough."

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Young won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award after finishing with 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and a touchdown in 2020. Following this campaign, Young was expected to enter his sophomore season as one of the top defensive players in the league.

This was not the case and it was apparent early that Young was struggling. Also, it was noteworthy that the edge rusher did not attend any voluntary OTA's last offseason.

These are voluntary workouts for the team but around 90 percent of the roster made an appearance. Even while recovering from a torn ACL, Young is expected to show up to those workouts this time around.

"In my conversations with him, he said he's going to be here and I'm pretty excited to see him here," Rivera said.

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Young entered the league viewed as a generational talent that could be a franchise player in Washington. His overall mindset and determination is something that could carry him into year three and back to the top of the league.

"One thing I really appreciate is how focused he is right now," Rivera said. "He truly really is attacking his offseason, his rehab program. I think that's been good."