The New England Patriots certainly built their front seven in a way that would offset the loss of Chase Winovich — even if that’s a move made by choice.
Winovich is entering his third NFL season, and has yet to fully reach his potential. It doesn’t help that he began his season on the active/physically unable to perform list, setting him back in a retooled front that features Matt Judon and Kyle Van Noy, among others.
So, if linebacker does prove to be a position of depth, could the Patriots move on from Winovich? Appearing Sunday on WEEI, NFL Media’s Mike Giardi was asked who he thought was most likely to get traded between Winovich, Sony Michel, N’Keal Harry and Stephon Gilmore.
He went with Winovich.
“I would put Winovich as the first guy who is most likely to be traded,” Giardi said. “Look, they invested in the position in the offseason, he’s a different guy — I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, he’s not — he’s different. I mean, you saw the postgame press conference, it was bizarre, and sort of declaring that he’s bought in to the Bill Belichick thing after — so does that mean he didn’t buy in for the first two years? Because I think we all would all kind of, those around the team, would say, ‘Yeah, I’m not sure he was totally on board with how they do things.’ …
“Maybe Winovich is a piece for a depth corner (trade), sort of a Jason McCourty type, if you will, that you can kind of plug and play. Veteran guy in the league that has seen a lot. That is something that I see as a real possibility.”
The Patriots really value versatility and, frankly, Winovich doesn’t offer that. He’s a useful pass-rusher, but doesn’t fit the mold of a traditional edge rusher and is not overly effective in stopping the run game. He’s not a premier pass-rusher, either, at least to the degree that the Patriots could just shrug their shoulders and accept his shortcomings stopping the run.
There is still one more week of preseason action, so this isn’t a decision that needs to be made right away. However, New England, and the rest of the league, is starting to run out of runway a bit.
