At the time, Washington coach Ron Rivera and Chase Young downplayed the edge rusher’s hip flexor injury during training camp a year ago. Young, though, now says it bothered him going into the season, even though he had 2.5 sacks in the first two games.
In Week 3, he had a groin injury.
“I feel like my biggest thing this season is coming in just 100 percent healthy, not worry about everything,” Young said Tuesday, via Michael Phillips of richmond.com. “If you’re 100 percent healthy, it just helps with your mental, and it just helps you play faster, just having that confidence you can do whatever you want on the field.”
Young said his priority this offseason was coming into the season 100 percent healthy. That’s one of the reasons he spent time away from the voluntary offseason workouts until this week.
Young was in communication with his coaches while he was training off site.
“They know I’ve been working. My teammates, they know I’ve been working,” Young said. “But during the OTAs, that was a big part of my training, that I would see improvement.
“I let the coaches know. They understood. I sent (trainer Chad Engelhart) videos all the time of stuff I was doing. And I’ve been in the building, in Phase I and Phase II, in and out. So I’ve been here and shown face, and, you know, they know I’m locked in. Everybody knows I’m locked in.”
The 2020 defensive rookie of the year also spent time doing endorsements for Under Armour and eBay as well as an appearance on Family Feud.
“So yeah, that’s just three things I did,” Young said. “I’m blessed. I don’t take any opportunities for granted. I say my prayers, and I’m just blessed to be here.”