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New England Patriots 2021 linebacker playbook: Who stays, who goes

By Michael DeVito

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 27: Outside linebacker Dont'a Hightower #54 of the New England Patriots recovers a fumble for a touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium on October 27, 2019 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 27: Outside linebacker Dont'a Hightower #54 of the New England Patriots recovers a fumble for a touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium on October 27, 2019 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Getty Images) /
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New England Patriots
New England Patriots Chase Winovich (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Chase Winovich

Chase Winovich is one of this writer’s all-time favorite New England Patriots draft picks.

Over many, many years the team has seldom drafted a player whom this writer thought they should. They did with Winovich. It was a great moment.

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The Michigan player has a great motor, as they say. He goes all-out on every play. He also had some versatility always a plus for the New England Patriots. And he had some character to add to a usually dull team.

So, how has it gone on the field? Winovich’s first season in New England showed great promise. In fairly limited snaps, he accrued 5.5 sacks and made things happen when he was on the field.

Chase Winovich could still be the future of the New England Patriots defense

The future looked bright. Some speculated that he was the next legend on New England’s defense. Not yet.

His second year projected improvement didn’t materialize. Winovich logged the same number of sacks at 5.5 but he did increase his total tackles from 26 to 48.

Yet, those 2020 statistics were just not what had been expected from the Michigan dynamo. Not at all.

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Winovich disappointed in 2020. Significantly. And more recently, it has been reported that his let’s say verbal demeanor may not be what the New England Patriots are looking for.

Whatever the reasons, Winovich’s performance in 2020, on the stat sheet and generally, was just not good enough. he was expected to excel and he didn’t. Double-digit sacks were predicted here, and they didn’t happen.

In fact, Winovich had 2.5 sacks in his first four games, and only three in the last 11 in which he played, two of which came against the hapless Jets in the last and most meaningless game of the year. Not exactly the breakout season hoped for and predicted.

The keyword for Winovich in 2020 is disappointing. Hopefully, 2021 will be a renaissance of his hoped-for emergence as a force on New England’s defense. He gets at least one more chance.

Chase Winovich stays.

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