Why Would The 49ers Bench Chase Young?

The star pass rusher for the 49ers, Chase Young, was a scene taking off multiple plays against the Detroit Lions last week. This caused much outrage from many of the 49ers’ fans and other teams’ fans. While Chase Young is a phenomenal pass rusher, he has been very injury-prone throughout his career. Now seen taking plays off, we could see the former 2nd overall pick get benched before the game of all games, the Super Bowl. The clip below via Chase King on X shows Chase Young giving minimum effort on a play, allowing rookie running back Jahmry Gibbs to score an easy touchdown. Something that was shown while there were multiple other plays where it was clear Chase Young was not trying to make a tackle or play through to the whistle.

Who Can Replace Chase Young On The Defense?

While it’s not clear who the 49ers will choose to take over his role, we have a good idea of who it could possibly be. Starting off, they could move Arik Armstead back out to the defensive end and have Javon Hargrave and Jevon Kinlaw both be the interior defensive linemen for most of the game. They could also start Clelin Ferrel over Chase Young, who is a former top 5 pick in his draft from the Raiders and is looking to show himself off in the Super Bowl now. The final option is they could do a mix of the two and also mix Chase Young in when needed on passing downs because he is still a good pass rusher.