Saints Sign Chase Young to Three-Year, $51 Million Deal
The New Orleans Saints are making a significant move in free agency this year by investing in a key player, defensive end Chase Young.
The Saints have long dealt with one of the NFL’s toughest salary cap situations due to years of contract restructuring and pushing debts further into the future. As a result, they’re often forced to perform cap gymnastics just to stay under the cap, leaving little room for big free-agent signings.
So, when New Orleans decides to commit to a high-eight-figure contract, they must be confident in the player’s ability to perform. On Monday, the Saints offered a three-year, $51 million deal to former Rookie of the Year Chase Young, which could increase to $57 million with incentives. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report the agreement.
Young, 25, was the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. However, after that standout rookie season, injuries limited him to just 12 games over the next two years, and he hasn’t quite matched his rookie performance since.
In 2024, Young signed a one-year deal with the Saints, and he showed flashes of his former self, recording 5.5 sacks, a career-high 21 quarterback hits, and 34 pressures.
With this deal, New Orleans will need to restructure more contracts to fit Young’s salary under the cap, as they were already $7.1 million over the cap before the signing, according to Over The Cap.
While re-signing one defensive end won’t transform a 5-12 team into a playoff contender, there is significant potential in this move. Young is still young, and he may have deserved more sacks in 2024 than he actually recorded—those could very well show up in his stats for 2025.
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