wco81 wrote:I think Young's best chance to get a huge contract would have been to get an extension with the Commanders.
If you look at all the big contracts given to defensive players, they've all been extensions with the teams which drafted them -- the Watt brothers, the Bosa brothers, Donald, Chris Jones, etc.
We haven't seen a big contract given to a defensive player in free agency. If the team that drafted the player is letting him walk, that means that team and all the other NFL teams have concluded that they're not worthy of a 9-figure deal.
So that may be what Young is thinking.
On pure talent alone, he will play for years, kind of like Clowney, who's bounced around the league after entering on huge set of expectations. But Clowney just had one of his best seasons at age 30 for the Ravens.
Nah, there have been plenty of guys that got a big 2nd contract from teams that didn't draft them.
Deforest Buckner, Jalen Ramsey, Khalil Mack, Jamal Adams, Bradley Chubb, Montez Sweat all immediately come to mind as guys that were traded while on rookie contracts and given big extensions after getting traded.
As for true free agent signings we can look at 2 examples of big contracts being given out right here with the 49ers in Javon Hargrave and Mooney Ward.
Now if you are strictly limiting it to 9 figure contracts, sure the list is very short of guys that didn't get those from the teams that drafted them. However, the list of those types of contracts in of themselves for defensive players is very short. Those contracts are generally only given to the truly elite players, and of course teams aren't usually going to let legit elite players out of their buildings.
Besides, I'm not sure what your point about Chase Young is. Are you saying that Young is figuring he's not going to get a big extension just because Washington traded him, and therefore has decided not to go full throttle out there on the field? If that is even remotely true, then that makes me want him even less than before.