The New England Patriots didn’t have much pass rush in 2020. The little bit they did have largely came from second-year edge rusher Chase Winovich. He had 5.5 sacks this season to lead the team in that category.
Unfortunately, Winovich may not have endeared himself to the coaching staff or his teammates during his sophomore season. Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal posted what appears to be notes from Patriots coaches detailing Winovich’s strengths and weaknesses. One of the weaknesses was referred to as “his mouth.”
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‘The Issue of His Mouth’
Winovich is a wild man on the field. He plays with great energy and passion. That’s never a problem for most any football coach, but if a staff starts to believe a player isn’t coachable, the energy becomes a negative.
Based on the excerpt Bedard provided, the Patriots might be headed that way with Winovich. Take a look:
Had a monster game against the Jets, which we also saw earlier in the season. In between? Just a sub-rusher role. Why? Because he can’t be counted on a down-to-down basis to Do His Job on the edge, and I’m not sure the team will ever trust him to do that — he’s almost certain to have competition at the position next year. There’s also the issue of his mouth, which is a concern internally because he rarely thinks he’s wrong and is a bit of a locker room lawyer (sounds like someone around here who writes about football). I’ve floated moving him to (inside linebacker) but that has been shot down because if of the lack of faith he will consistently do the correct things within the scheme.
Winovich has spoken glowingly about Patriots coach Bill Belichick in the past, but he has also shown some potential discomfort with a lack of playing time earlier in the season.
“It felt great being back out there with the boys,” Winovich told reporters after a Week 9 win over the New York Jets. “It was really hard being away the last couple of games, just watching the team from the sideline, really. I can’t really speak much about the game plan, but it was just part of the game plan. I guess you giveth and you taketh. I knew I had to be better on some of my fundamentals, assignments, and basic football things. It was a great opportunity for me to go out there and display some of that. I am just happy we got the team win and I could contribute in a positive way.”
Winovich is Expendable
To put it plainly, Winovich is expendable.
He’s a nice player who could probably put up bigger sack numbers as a three-down edge rusher in a traditional 3-4 defense. However, in the Patriots’ system, linebackers are asked to play multiple roles, on the inside and outside, and Winovich is sometimes out of his element.
He reminds me of a less explosive version of Bruce Irvin in that specialist sort of way. So at the end of the day, the Patriots scheme and culture may not be a perfect fit for Winovich. If the Patriots have already determined that’s the case, don’t be surprised to see him moved elsewhere while the retooling in New England continues.
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Young Patriots LB’s Mouth Might Shorten His Stay in New England: Report