Bargain Buy Willie Young Gives Bears the Sack Artist Needed in Chicago
Published by Zach Kruse on October 14, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
With an NFL-high seven sacks in just six games, Chicago Bears defensive end Willie Young has stated his case as the ultimate bargain buy of the last free-agent period—all while providing the Bears with a much-needed presence at one of the game’s most valued positions.
According to Spotrac, the average salary of the top five defensive ends in 2014 is roughly $14.5 million. Young, signed to a three-year, $9 million deal back in March, will make just $950,000 in base salary this season. He is also responsible for only $2.67 million on Chicago’s cap, or roughly 2 percent of its total spending limit in 2014.
Overall, Young’s average salary of $3 million ranks 40th in the NFL among defensive ends. He is tied at that spot with Robert Geathers of the Cincinnati Bengals and Jonathan Babineaux of the Atlanta Falcons, two ends with one total sack between them this season.
Young’s signing bonus of $2 million is tied for 44th among defensive ends. The $9 million total contract value slots Young in at No. 41 overall at the position.
On his own team, Young is actually making less in average salary than Chicago’s kicker, Robbie Gould. Jared Allen and Lamarr Houston, Chicago’s two other big-money defensive ends from this spring, average over $15 million in salary combined, with $30.5 million guaranteed.
Bottom line: The Bears are paying Young pocket change to play a premier position in 2014.
However, the former Detroit Lion is putting up $100 million numbers.
Young, 29, has a sack in every game this season save for one, a Week 4 loss to the Green Bay Packers in which he delivered a late blocked field goal. He registered two sacks in a come-from-behind win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2 and two more Sunday in Atlanta, when the Bears put the Falcons away with a barrage of late pressure on quarterback Matt Ryan.
Young’s seven total sacks and 49 yards lost from those sacks both lead the NFL through six weeks. It’s also an exact equal to what the Bears got out of Julius Peppers over 16 games last season, when the veteran led Chicago’s pressure-depraved defense in sacks.
Allen and Houston have one combined sack in 2014. Allen’s first came Sunday. Houston is still searching for his.
Young’s numbers haven’t come through volume rushing, either. According to Pro Football Focus, Young ranks 27th among 4-3 defensive ends in pass-rushing snaps at 144. Allen has 174, the 10th most. Houston has 185, the fifth most.
Such a scorching start may be difficult to maintain, but Young’s current pace puts him on track for 19 sacks —a total that would break Richard Dent’s franchise record for sacks in a single season (17.5, 1984).
Could anyone have seen this coming? Most likely not.
Over his first 46 career games, all coming in Detroit, Young tallied exactly six sacks. He’s never had more than three in a season.
Those six career sacks likely played a major factor in Young’s inexpensive free-agent deal. Teams pay loads of money to get players capable of putting the quarterback on the ground. While an enticing athlete, Young never proved himself as a sack artist in Detroit.
That said, his disruption ability while with the Lions was nothing to sneeze at.
As a starter last season, Young tallied 60 quarterback disruptions, including 48 hurries and eight quarterback hits. Only Robert Quinn of the St. Louis Rams and Brian Robison of the Minnesota Vikings had more hurries as a 4-3 defensive end in 2013.
For context, consider Allen delivered 65 disruptions last season, while Houston had 63. Peppers tallied only 40 to lead the Bears.
While prolific sackers almost never develop so late, it’s clear Young was slowly blazing an uncommon path toward a productive season of getting the quarterback on the ground.
He is certainly rare. Of the seven other players with at least 4.5 sacks this season, only Elvis Dumervil (fourth) and Justin Houston (third) were not selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Young was drafted in the seventh round out of North Carolina State in 2010.
In an age when teams will pay a ransom for any semblance of pass-rushing talent, Young represents a slip through the cracks—a bargain free-agent signing who has exploded in sack production.
He’s now anchoring Chicago’s pressure package. His seven sacks constitute almost half of the Bears’ total in 2014.
Unbelievably, general manager Phil Emery needed to pay just $9 million total—or the same amount he guaranteed to re-sign his kicker—to unearth the NFL’s new sack leader. What a deal, especially if Young continues to provide the production most expected out of Allen and Houston.
Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report.
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