The New Orleans Saints are officially in a new era, hiring Kellen Moore as head coach this offseason, drafting quarterback Tyler Shough in the second round, and saying farewell to Derek Carr who announced his retirement because of a shoulder injury. However, the Saints made sure to enter this new era with many of their same players, prioritizing re-signing guys this offseason.
One player the team re-signed this offseason was Chase Young. The veteran defensive end first came to New Orleans in 2024, signing a one-year prove it deal with the team. A year later, the Saints re-signed him to a three-year deal worth $51 million. Clearly, the team loved what it saw from Young in 2024, and believes he can be a consistent contributor on the edge moving forward.
That seems to be a sentiment that’s only popular inside of the Saints’ building, because outside of it, the Young deal has consistently been characterized as a bad move. That continued in a recent Bleacher Report article where Gary Davenport ranked the six worst decisions of the 2025 NFL Offseason. New Orleans re-signing Young was No. 4 on the list.
Saints re-signing Chase Young named fourth-worst move of the 2025 offseason
Simply put, Davenport argues that New Orleans is paying a decent player like he’s a difference-maker, and considering the team’s annual lack of cap space, that’s the wrong approach for the team to be taking.
"There was a time when $17 million a season might have seemed a bargain for Young. But since taking home Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2020, Young has underwhelmed, in part due to injuries... Young’s a decent player, and he’s still just 26. But he hasn’t been a difference-maker since his rookie season, yet the Saints are paying him like one…Given their precarious cap situation and the overall state of the franchise, that was a bad move by a team that has made their share of those (and then some) of late."Gary Davenport (Bleacher Report)
There wasn’t a consensus among fans and analysts on how Young’s first season in New Orleans went. The veteran defensive end played in all 17 games and had 34 pressures but just 5.5 sacks and eight tackles for a loss. While some critics argued that the pressures needed to be actual sacks, supporters of Young made the case he was doing his job and impacting the game with pressure.
The Saints obviously agreed with the latter opinion, and that’s why Young is set to be around for at least three more seasons. Those three seasons will actually determine whether the move was a good one or not.