There's a lot of hype surrounding Washington Redskins rookie Chase Young. However, no one is more excited about the highly touted youngster than head coach Ron Rivera.
The 58-year old coach has been raving about Young and even went as far as to comparing him to some legendary defensive superstars the NFL has seen.
“He's not quite as big as Julius was,” Ron Rivera said in the Redskins' Offseason Update Live (per redskins.com). “He's built like him; he's a mini version of him. He's got a little bit more of that initial explosion. Julius was very long and his explosion was good, but because of his length it seemed even better than it really, truly was. I mean Julius was phenomenal, and this is a young man who could be that type of player.”
Rivera was able to coach nine-time Pro Bowler Julius Peppers in his final two years with the Carolina Panthers in 2017 and 2018 before the defensive end retired from professional football. Aside from Peppers, the head coach also alluded to another future Hall of Famer in Von Miller of the Denver Broncos.
“Von Miller comes to my mind when I watch Chase and I watch him work out and I watch the tape he's putting out,” the Redskins coach added, “so I'm pretty excited about seeing him.”
Both Peppers and Miller were also selected second in their respective draft classes. Both also snagged the Defensive Rookie of the Year awards in each of their first years in the NFL. Is this a sign of things to come? This is definitely not a bad bunch to be grouped with if you're Chase Young.
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