Getty Chase Winovich
Through the first week or so of New England Patriots practices, one thing has been clear, and that’s Chase Winovich is seemingly ready to take the next step in his career.
Follow the Heavy on Patriots Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors, and content!
Chase Winovich Has Been Dominant
Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal and others watched Winovich perform impressively at the Patriots’ training camp practice on Monday. He was all over the field and Daniels mentioned the 25-year-old who is headed for his second year in the NFL, was “dominating.”
On Monday alone, Winovich had three sacks and that includes a forced fumble against Cam Newton, which forced the 2015 NFL MVP to run a lap with respect to the team’s punishment rule for turnovers.
Chase Winovich Looking to Build on Rookie Season
In 2019, Winovich didn’t start, but he played in all 16 games and recorded 5.5 sacks. Early on, he looked like he was headed for a double-digit sack season, but his production tailed off a bit later in the year.
The 6’3″ 250-pound 25-year-old is hoping he can duplicate the fast start from 2019, but only sustain the same type of production throughout the 2020 season. If he can do that, Winovich will be one of the Patriots’ standout performers this year.
Michigan Connection Looking Good for the Patriots
Fellow Michigan Wolverines alum Josh Uche is also playing well in training camp. He’s still learning the ropes, but his play has drawn raves from several Patriots insiders.
He was just behind Winovich with two sacks on Monday. The Athletic’s Jeff Howe wrote this summary of Uche’s performance and offered a bit of an outlook on the rookie’s first season.
Josh Uche is going to generate a ton of pressure as a rookie because he is so active. But there are going to be mistakes along the way. For instance, he was heavily involved, for better and worse, on four consecutive running plays in 11-on-11s. First, Uche shot the gap to shut down Burkhead. Then, Uche was engulfed by Isaiah Wynn on one play and blocked out of his gap by David Andrews on the next. Finally, Uche diagnosed the play and redirected Burkhead with a nice read. At the end of practice, Uche beat David Andrews to potentially sack Newton.
With Winovich and Uche both establishing themselves as viable pass-rushers, the Patriots’ defense could be even better against the pass in 2020 than they were in 2019.