Getty Chase Winovich #50 of the New England Patriots celebrates after scoring a touchdown off of a recovered blocked punt against the New York Giants during the first quarter in the game at Gillette Stadium.
Under the masterful mind of coordinator Patrick Graham, the New York Giants boast one of the more promising defenses in football. Headed by a big-named secondary and two All-Pro caliber defensive linemen upfront, there are huge expectations in East Rutherford for a unit that finished as the NFL’s 12th-ranked defense in 2020.
If there’s one thing that could potentially hold back the unit from realizing its true potential, it’s their play on the edge — more specifically in the pass-rushing department. For the better part of the past two seasons, the Giants have relied heavily on the likes of veteran placeholders (ex: Markus Golden and Jabaal Sheard) and promising, yet unproven commodities such as Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines. While the latter two have shown glimpses, injuries and up-and-down production make both Carter and Ximines far from sure things.
Big Blue chose to rework their pass-rushing group this offseason, scrapping their three leading sackers at the position and transitioning their fourth, Carter Coughlin, to insider linebacker. They did add the likes of Azeez Ojulari, Elerson Smith, Ryan Anderson and Ifeadi Odenigbo via the draft and free agency. However, there is certainly room for further upgrades. And with an intriguing pass rusher potentially up for grabs in New England, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger believes it might be time for head coach Joe Judge to give his old friend Bill Belichick a ring.
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PFF Proposal Ships Chase Winovich to Giants
Chase Winovich has accumulated 11.0 sacks over his first two seasons with the Patriots since being selected in the third-round out of Michigan in 2019. He’s also fresh off a 2020 campaign where he led all Patriot defenders with 5.5 sacks. However, thanks to a sporadic snap count to close out the year and new, big-priced additions to New England’s edge group, Winovich’s roster spot is far from guaranteed. With that in mind, Spielberger has the Pats flipping the 26-year-old pass rusher for a conditional late-round pick in 2022. Here’s how the proposal shapes up:
- New York Giants Receive:
- EDGE, Chase Winovich
- 2022 seventh-round pick
- New England Patriots Receive:
- 2022 conditional sixth-round pick
- (becomes fifth-round pick if Winovich plays more than 45% of defensive snaps in 2021)
- 2022 conditional sixth-round pick
Since the 2020 offseason, the New England Patriots signed or extended Matthew Judon (four years, $54 million), Kyle Van Noy (two years, $12 million), Deatrich Wise (four years, $22 million) and used top-100 picks on Anfernee Jennings, Josh Uche and Ronnie Perkins in the 2020-21 drafts. The interior of the defensive line is loaded, as well, so there’s no wiggle room up front.
The New York Giants, on the other hand, cannot seem to get healthy at edge rusher. The two clubs will hold joint practices on Aug. 25th-26, providing Giants assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Patrick Graham with a good look at Winovich if he can get healthy in time after missing all of training camp thus far.
Winovich Shines in Return from Injury
Of course, another injured pass rusher is probably the last thing Giants fans want to hear about. However, after being on the PUP list for the first two weeks of training camp with an undisclosed injury, Winovich has since returned and made his presence felt in the process. In his first game action of the preseason, the Pennsylvania native notched two sacks and five tackles in New England’s 35-0 rout over Winovich’s hometown Eagles.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Winovich following the game, via the Boston Herald. “I missed it.”
While Winovich has yet to flaunt double-digit upside in the Patriots’ defensive scheme, he has mustered up 5.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons. And that’s with only nine career starts under his belt. A fresh start in New York could help lead to an uptick in production for Winovich. Plus, as we’ve all become well aware of over his time with the Giants, coach Judge has rarely shied away from adding a player with roots to his old stomping grounds in New England.
Is he a full-blown game-changer? At this time, no. But for a conditional sixth-round pick, he’d be a welcomed addition to a Giants edge position that returns just 1.5 sacks combined.
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