Patriots Rumors: Patrick Chung Considered Retiring Before Extending Contract

In a strange turn of events, the New England Patriots reportedly talked safety Patrick Chung out of retirement then signed him for an additional two years.

Chung considered retirement this offseason, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Wednesday. The Patriots instead signed Chung to a two-year contract extension that lasts through the 2023 season. The move was done with freeing up cap space in mind. The Patriots didn’t even have enough cap room to sign top pick Kyle Dugger, a safety out of Lenoir-Rhyne. It would be surprising if Chung plays with the Patriots through the entirety of his new contract.

The Patriots will sign Dugger this week, a league source told The Boston Globe’s Jim McBride on Wednesday.

Had Chung retired, the Patriots would have freed up nearly $3 million off of their salary cap. The Chung extension reportedly freed up $925,000. It would not have been shocking if Chung had elected to retire seeing as he missed three games due to a lingering heel injury in 2019.

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