THE BEST OF THE BEST. Larry Johnson's produced three top-five picks in five years, but don't you ask him which one he thinks is best, because you won't get anything out of him! – until he talks some more.
“I’m not saying,” Johnson said with a laugh. “All three have the potential to be the best.”
But he did give a breakdown of the defensive ends.
“Nick is very strong and powerful, a great bender,” Johnson said, referring to his flexibility. “Joey’s a great technician. He stays in his wheelhouse to do exactly what he does best.”
Young, he said, might be the most physically gifted of the three.
“Those are all great athletes, (but) Chase is a different breed,” Johnson said. “He can run. He has great get-off. He can bend. He can drop into coverage. He’s got great hands. So he has a little more things in his toolbox that he can use, but they’re all great players.”
I'm sure my incessant online-ness has turned my brain to mush, but that all reads like "I ain't telling!" followed damn near immediately by "Chase Young. It's Chase Young. Good lord, it's Chase Young."
And who can blame him? The Bosa Brothers were ungodly good – I mean, they were both top-three picks and went on to win defensive rookie of the year – but neither looked like they were assembled in a lab, neither had nine sacks and four forced fumbles across two games against top-10 opponents, and neither averaged a tackle for loss on every tackle.
The Bosa Brothers could not have been better NFL prospects, and then came Chase Young.