Rivera feels Young’s injury-riddled 2021 campaign an ‘awakening’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The hype surrounding Chase Young entering the 2021 season was hard to quantify. The 22-year-old was coming off an epic rookie season and had been considered one of the leading candidates to compete for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
However, Young’s second NFL campaign did not go as he or the team would have hoped. The pass rusher struggled to begin the year and finished with just 1.5 sacks in nine games before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in Week 10.
Speaking with local media on Tuesday at the NFL’s annual league meetings in Florida, head coach Ron Rivera believes Young’s disappointing sophomore year was a little bit of a wake-up call for him.
“I think for Chase, it was a little bit of an awakening, a little bit of a realization,” Rivera said.
Part of the reason Young’s second season was considered disappointing was that even before the injury, No. 99…