The Washington Commanders have designated defensive end Chase Young to return to practice today, starting his 21-day clock to return to the active roster.
For Young, the move is one that many have expected for some time now. Young has made steady progress over the past year since tearing his ACL against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, and based on what head coach Ron Rivera said last week of Young, he is excited to be back on the field with his teammates.
There was a belief that Young would be ready to return to practice last week, but after meeting with Dr. James Andrews, it was decided that he needed to take one more week of recovery before being ramped up. Now, after going through what Rivera called a "heavy work day" before the game against the Green Bay Packers, the team is satisfied with his progress.
"Doc is very happy with it," Rivera said.
However, the Commanders are still planning to ease Young back into action. He will start positional work on Wednesday (today) and be involved with all the installation periods as the team prepares for this Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. After that, he will work off to the side with trainers while the rest of the Commanders go through team drills.
The team will monitor how he feels over the course of the week. Rivera emphasized that expectations for Young's first week of practice must be tempered.
"He's going to have to get back into condition," Rivera said. "Believe me, playing football is completely different from rehabbing, obviously. And the more reps he can get on the practice field prior to stepping onto the game field would be very beneficial to him."
Young, whenever he returns to the active roster, will join a defensive line that has played well during the Commanders' three-game win streak. The group has accounted for 16 of the team's 21 sacks, which is tied for ninth in the league.
