Trade deadline day became a transformational day for the Washington Commanders. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the team has reached agreements to trade star defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young.
Sweat will go to the Chicago Bears for a second-round draft selection, likely to be one of the very first picks of the draft’s second day.
Young netted only a third-round selection from the 49ers, who have three picks in that round — two of them at the very end in the “compensatory” portion.
Both players were in the final year of their contracts, and the trades are an acknowledgment that the Commanders’ plan of building a fearsome defensive line around four first-round selections did not lead to them having the on-field success they had hoped for.
Coach Ron Rivera is in his fourth season in Washington but his first under new ownership. Josh Harris, who led the group that purchased the team, will now have five draft picks in the first three rounds next spring, which will undoubtedly be enticing if he decides to hire a new general manager this offseason (Rivera currently has final say over personnel moves).
The trade of Sweat to the Bears validates his perceived value, as he was one of the top players available at Tuesday’s trade deadline. On Monday, the New York Giants traded their star pass rusher, Leonard Williams, to the Seattle Seahawks for second- and fifth-round selections.
Washington’s haul is better because the Chicago Bears are one of the league’s worst teams, and their second-round selection is expected to be early in the round, unlike the Seahawks, who currently lead the NFC West.
The Atlanta Falcons were also strongly pursuing Sweat, who is from Georgia.
Sweat is playing the final season of his rookie contract. If he doesn’t agree to an extension with the Bears, they’ll be able to use the franchise tag to keep him in Chicago for another season if they wish.
Acquiring Sweat at this time means that if the Bears sign him to an extension, he won’t count against the compensatory draft formula for free agents.
Young’s haul is a letdown given his draft position - he was taken No. 2 overall with Rivera’s very first draft pick in 2020.
Young won defensive rookie of the year honors that season, but an ACL injury and speculation that he “freelanced” too much instead of playing within coordinator Jack Del Rio’s system dogged him during his time in Washington.
Just 24 years old, Young still has time to develop into an NFL star, and will be paired in San Francisco with former college teammate Nick Bosa, who he was often compared to in the draft process, a pairing that could be beneficial to his growth.
While the trade deadline often divides teams into “buyers” and “sellers” based on their perceived chances of making the playoffs, Rivera is unlikely to throw in the towel on the 2023 season, and will undoubtedly note that some of Washington’s best games defensively didn’t involve monster days from Sweat or Young.
Still, it is a pivotal moment in the course of the franchise under Harris, and the first public acknowledgment that the path of the last four years isn’t leading the Commanders where they want to go.
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