Saints designed Chase Young’s contract with injury protections in case he misses time

The Chase Young era with the New Orleans Saints isn’t off to the best start. On Monday, fans were excited when the veteran defensive end signed with the Saints. However, that excitement plummeted on Tuesday when it was reported that Chase Young will have a neck procedure this offseason. Young will be sidelined into training camp, but the current expectation is that he’ll be ready for the regular season.

Regardless of that timeline, fans were saddened, and the Saints started to receive some criticism for essentially signing an injured player to a guaranteed contract. New Orleans was aware that Young needed a neck surgery, still, they signed him to a one-year deal with $13 million guaranteed— at least that was the initial report.

Turns out, the Saints set up some injury protections in this contract because of the knowledge regarding Young’s neck issue. Albert Breer reported that only $5.01milliom is flat-out guaranteed. The other $7.99 million is broken up in per-game rosters. With each game that Young plays, more money will be made.

This deal looks out for the Saints, but still allows Chase Young to make the money as long as he’s healthy. After his surgery, which Breer reported is set for Wednesday, Young will spend the remainder of the offseason getting healthy. Of course, the goal will be for Young to be ready to suit up in Week 1.

This all stems from the stinger injury that Chase Young suffered in a preseason game last year, which led to him missing Week 1 of the 2023 season. However, he still played in 16 games last season, recording 7.5 sacks, while switching teams in the middle of the season. Now, New Orleans will hope that everything goes according to plan with Chase Young’s procedure and rehab, so that he can bring some much-needed pass rushing to the Saints.

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