Washington Commanders: 4 Most Important Reasons Montez Sweat, Chase Young Traded

The Washington Commanders have traded away 2 of their most highly touted defensive players: Montez Sweat and Chase Young. Let’s review the trades and delve into 4 of the most important reasons the trades were made.

The What: Washington Commanders Trade Details

• Montez Sweat: traded to the Chicago Bears in exchange for the Bears’ second-round pick in 2024

Trade: Commanders and Bears have agreed to a trade that is expected to send DE Montez Sweat to the Chicago for a 2024 second-round pick, per sources. Sweat is in the last year of his contract, and the Commanders are opting for a draft pick now. Chicago beefs up its line. pic.twitter.com/Hd7jtqDtWY

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2023

• Chase Young: traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for the 49ers’ compensatory third-round pick in 2024
  

  Trade II: Washington is dealing DE Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers for a third-round pick, per sources.

  On the trade deadline day, Washington now has moved on from Young and Montez Sweat, once viewed as foundational players.

  — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2023

The Why: 4 Most Important Reasons Sweat, Young Traded

1. More Money, More Problems: When Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne respectively signed big money contracts in the last 2 consecutive off-seasons, it created a dilemma and future decision point on signing both Sweat and Young this upcoming off-season. Because the team declined to exercise the 5th year option on Chase Young, they both were playing on the last year of their rookie contracts, which added to already complicated situations and decisions. This meant that both were up next in line waiting to get paid after the season was over. So not only did the Commanders need to decide who to pay big money to for players that played the same position; they also needed to decide if it was worth allocating a major percentage of their salary cap to just the starters on the defensive line- essentially: putting all of their (cap space) eggs in one basket. A wise person once said to me: “Don’t spend all of your money in one place.”
2. “Stuck, Broken” (Commanders) Record: The team fell to a 3-5 record for the season after losing to the Eagles 31-38 in week 8. This hastened the decision to execute the trades for both players, as had been previously discussed in the days leading up to the trade deadline in an article by our very own GridironHeroics.com writer, Jordan Sigler. With Sweat and Young expecting to be key factors to the Commanders team success this season, their team record was a telling yardstick of how impactful (or lack of impact) their individual player performances were having and how they were (not) measuring up.
3. Sunk “Rank and File” 
   • Total Defense Ranked #29: The Commanders Defense is allowing 374.1 yards per game in 2023
   • Total Points Allowed Ranked #29: The Commanders Defense is allowing 26.8 points per game in 2023
   • Sweat and Young were a big part of these abysmal rankings. Nuff Said.
4.  A Tale of 2 Players: Here’s where I’ll need to deviate from the format of discussing both players together because there are individual reasons that strictly apply for one player and not the other; specifically focusing on how the Commanders felt about one versus the other.
   • Montez Sweat: with the exception for missing OTAs, for the most part was a perfect team player. So the most obvious reasons for his trade, primarily come down to reasons already outlined previously in this article (reasons #1-3). The most important are based on “business” as Ron Rivera says in his post-practice presser the day after the trade:

Trading Montez was a really tough decision, but something that we felt was in the best interest of the football team.

We really appreciate everything Montez had did for us. A heck of a football player came in and did some nice things and really fit well. But again, football’s a very difficult business, and a lot of things change and things happen, and so we made the decision. Really do appreciate everything that Montez did for us and wanna wish him the best in Chicago as he finishes up his opportunities there.

• • Chase Young: In addition to all of the business decisions and the metrics-based reasons listed previously, it also appears he has been traded for negative on-field and off-field reasons. While these reasons are not excessively serious, personal/professional attitude and character-based issues seem to deeply impact team and relationship dynamics that are conducive to team success or, on the flip side, team failures. Post-trade reports have recently surfaced painting Chase Young in a more negative light.
    • “Durability and on-field discipline”: In his article for The Athletic, Ben Standig enumerates these concerns.

However, the team sees trading Young as a potential addition by subtraction, the source said. Even amid Young’s strong season, there are lingering concerns about his durability and on-field discipline, which is partly why Sweat was the more sought-after pass rusher in trade discussions this week, league sources said.

• • • “Undisciplined”, “Commitment… Questioned”: Also, after the Chase Young trade, Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle reveals this in his article.

Young, according to several Washington coaches and other organizational sources, was viewed as an undisciplined player who developed bad habits such as deviating from assignments in an effort to make splash plays. His off-the-field priorities and commitment to his craft were often questioned, and he was viewed internally as a player who plateaued as a rookie.

• • • “I was making money baby”: a 2021 X post (formerly Twitter) that didn’t exactly inspire.
      

      When asked about missing OTAs to shoot commercials — and if that somehow has contributed to a slow start, Chase Young said, "I was making money baby. Got to make the money. None of you all would have ducked the money. It's a job, just like you all do your job I do my job."

      — John Keim (@john_keim) November 11, 2021

Last Thoughts

The Montez Sweat and Chase Young trades seem to signal a “shift” in the Washington Commanders’ organizational philosophy as stated by Ron Rivera in his November 1st presser. Once seemingly building the team around star players on the defensive line, now appears to be switching that philosophy around quarterback Sam Howell and its offense. Here’s Ron Rivera’s post-practice presser on November 1st that discusses all of this:

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