Saints’ Chase Young gets updated recovery timeline after early offseason neck surgery

In an uneventful offseason for the New Orleans Saints, the lone splash signing was defensive end Chase Young. Unfortunately, even that acquisition drew a lot of criticism. One reason why is that, a day after signing with the Saints, it was announced that Young would need to undergo neck surgery. However, New Orleans as confident that Young would make a full recovery and be ready in time for the season.

With the offseason program in New Orleans concluded, and the team on break until training camp, it now seems like there’s a chance that Young could be on the field when the Saints return for camp. That optimism was inspired by the feedback Chase Young got in a recent check-up.

Young visited renowned neck specialist Dr. Robert Watkins, and things are reportedly on track for Young to participate in training camp. According to ESPN senior NFL reporter, Jeremy Fowler, Young will undergo more test in about six weeks, but he received a positive report at his most recent visit.

Chase Young is on track to participate in Saints training camp

This is big for Young and the Saints. For Young, he’s entering the most important season of his young career. He wants to prove that he still has a long future as an elite pass rusher in this league, and he’ll need health on his side to do that. For the Saints, they went after Young with hopes that he could drastically improve their pass rush— one of the weaknesses of an otherwise solid defense.

If he’s healthy and can participate in training camp, he’ll be able to gradually get up to form, learn the new defense and his teammates, and hit Week 1 already in stride. That’d be much better for him and the Saints than if he was just dropped into the season and had to work his way back in real games.

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