Detroit Lions free agency: What the cost of finally bringing in Chase Young would be

It seems like this one has been going on for a while now. Chase Young has been tied to the Detroit Lions since 2023. He made a lot of sense to trade for at the trade deadline that year. We were definitely writing about how we thought it made sense at the time. But as time went on, it started to make less and less sense.

At one point, Young was a Pro Bowler and the NFL Rookie of the Year. Then, in his second season, he tore his ACL, and he has never quite been able to return to the player he seemed to be en route to being.

The 49ers ended up trading a third-round pick for Young that year, but he did not pan out to be the guy they may have hoped he would be. In fact, he kind of disappeared in San Francisco, and they chose not to bring him back the next year. 

Young played for the Saints in 2024 and he did have a decent season, but he's shown that his days of being a starter are likely over.

If the plan is to bring in Young as a player who can be a guy who can rotate in and out with Za'Darius Smith, then this makes a lot more sense, but he would need to come on the cheap end of things. 

Cap expert Joshua Queipo projects that Young could be up for a three-year deal worth $45 million. That is not a crazy amount, and it matches how popular insiders believe Young will be next week since he's still just 25-years-old. 

Young could be part of the fix, but at this point, he is not the fix. The Lions would still need to be more active in finding players in free agency.