How The New York Giants Can Land Chase Young

The New York Giants are 2-8 and on the verge of being officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Giants have no meaningful games left to play, so fans are already looking ahead to the draft.

The 2020 NFL Draft will be an exciting one for Giants fans. New York currently holds the third overall pick in the draft and will almost certainly finish with a top ten pick regardless of what happens in December. There is one main prospect that the Giants should be looking to target: Chase Young.

Young is a dominant edge-rusher from Ohio State University. In 2019, Chase has recorded 13.5 sacks in only eight games. He has also forced an insane five fumbles, as well as racking up 15.5 tackles for loss. This is historic production through 8 games. According to Pro Football Focus, Young’s 13.5 sacks are “are the most by any defender through the first nine weeks of a college football season since Carl Nassib had the same amount in 2015.”

The Ohio State standout would be a perfect draft selection for the New York Giants. But it is not guaranteed that the Giants will land the generational pass-rusher. To land Chase Young, here are some scenarios that will have to play out in the Giants’ favor:

Washington Takes An Offensive Tackle

If the season ended today, the New York Giants would hold the third overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The division-rival Washington Redskins would hold the second overall pick. It is a legitimate possibility that the Redskins take Chase Young, crushing Giants’ fans hopes and dreams. Do not worry, though; the Giants would still land a superstar prospect.

There is no guarantee that the Redskins would take Young if they had the chance. Any team could use a generational pass-rusher, but Washington has a much more prominent position of need. The Washington Redskins desperately need an offensive tackle.

Two offensive tackle prospects could end up being top ten-selected players. Georgia tackle Andrew Thomas and Iowa tackle Tristan Wirfs are two prospects that the Redskins might value more than any edge-rusher. When considering that Washington drafted an edge in the first round of last year’s draft (Montez Sweat), it is not crazy to believe they might elect to pass on Young in favor of a tackle prospect.

On top of that, veteran left tackle Trent Williams’s time in Washington is coming to a close. A gross medical mishap with the team doctors has pushed Williams off the field and probably away from the Redskins. Their relationship seems beyond repair at this point. But the Giants don’t have to rely on Williams and Washington’s broken relationship to draft Chase Young.

The Giants Get The Second Pick

The Giants do not necessarily need to hope and pray that a team skips on Chase Young in order to draft him. New York could end up with a top-two pick on their own.

The Giants have three tough games coming out of their bye week. This week they will travel to Chicago to play the Bears’ strong defense. Then the 8-2 Packers will travel to New Jersey to spray canned cheese on Big Blue. After that, the Giants have a chance to get embarrassed on primetime again as they travel to Philadelphia to play the Eagles on a Monday night.

After these three games, though, the schedule softens up significantly. In Week 15, the Giants will host the 2-8 Dolphins in a real tankathon matchup. After that, the tank war continues. The Giants travel to Washington in Week 16, which could end up being the Chase Young Bowl, where the loser of this game ends up with the higher pick and first dibs on the Ohio State product.

If the Giants lose to the Redskins, they will likely secure themselves a higher pick than Washington. The first overall pick is more likely than not going to be a quarterback drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals. But that coveted second pick could and should be Chase Young, hopefully to the Giants, whether that be through a few more embarrassing losses or potential draft-day trade.

The Giants Trade-Up

So what if the Giants beat the Dolphins, Redskins, and maybe one or two other games between now and the end of the season? In that scenario, the Giants likely end up with a pick towards the back of the top ten, maybe even a few picks outside of it. So then how would New York be able to land Chase Young?

A trade would allow the Giants to move up to draft Chase Young. Granted, this would be a very pricey trade, but for Chase Young, it will probably be worth it. The kid totaled 13.5 sacks in 8 games this year. He would be a team-changing player for the Giants.

The last time the Giants took an edge rusher with the second overall pick, they got a team-changing, game-winning, Hall of Fame player: Lawrence Taylor. Now, I’m not comparing Chase Young to Lawrence Taylor by any means; no one can be compared to the greatest player of all time. But Chase Young has the potential to be a top pass-rusher in the league, and that would go a long way in rebuilding the Giants’ bottom-five defense.

So yes, this trade would be pricey. In fact, the Giants would probably have to sacrifice their 2021 first-round draft pick for Chase Young. Some might support that move, and some might consider it to be too much for one player. But it is an option the Giants could consider, and after failing their attempts to trade up for Josh Allen in the 2019 NFL Draft, it would not be shocking to see Dave Gettleman move up for Chase Young.