A lot of the moves the Mickey Loomis made during Kellen Moore's first offseason worked out well for the New Orleans Saints in 2025. Juwan Johnson had a career campaign in the first year of a new deal. Justin Reid brought veteran leadership to a secondary that needed it post-Tyrann Mathieu's retirement. However, Loomis made the biggest splash by re-signing Chase Young.
Bringing back Young could only be rivaled by the hiring of Brandon Staley. Seeing that Staley has his fingerprints on the entire defense, it's an unfair comparison. That's likely why Pro Football Focus' Bradley Locker only took a look at free agent signings when looking at theSaints' best and worst move of the offseason.
Locker praised Young's domination as a pass rusher. He set a career high with his first double digit sack season. When taking a look at the advanced statistics, Young finished the year with a 86.3 PFF pass-rush grade and a 15.2% pass-rush win rate.
Saints' gamble on Chase Young worked out in a major way
Young had such a strong year that it's easy to forget what the reaction that contract was when it was signed. Some fans felt like Loomis got fleeced in negotiations. Young's deal was heavily questioned by Saints fans during the offseason, and the murmurs only got louder when he missed the beginning of the season.
Part of the frustration was what originally sounded like a brief absence became the first quarter of the year. The other part was fans feeling like they overspent for 17 games, and now they're getting less. Turns out the Saints got exactly what they paid for.
Young had never reached 10 sacks in his career. $17 million per year is a 10 sack contract. It isn't the top line money, but it's enough to carry expectations along with it. That expectation is to be a guy who can get 10 sacks. Young did that in less games
The deal was certainly a gamble. Young's first year in New Orleans was best known for getting pressures but being unable to turn them into sacks. Clearly, he found the fix to that problem in 2025. If Young can stay healthy and produce like that, his contract is going to go from a gamble to a bargain