Chase Winovich and Mack Wilson were traded straight-up for each other during the offseason. Unfortunately, only one of them will play in this Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Browns.
New England sent Winovich to Cleveland for Wilson in a move that gave fresh starts to a pair of 2019 draft picks. Winovich played sparingly in the Browns’ first two games and landed on injured reserve after Week 2 due to a hamstring injury. The ever-energetic edge rusher must miss at least four games, so he won’t be on the field Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium. Bummer.
But Wilson likely will be out there. Whether that’s good for the Patriots or the Browns is up for debate.
The athletic linebacker showed promise during the summer and has made some decent plays this season, most notably in New England’s Week 2 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, for the most part, Wilson has been a disappointment through five games in his Patriots career.
The 24-year-old has had issues in run defense and has been a non-factor as a pass-rusher. But it’s in pass coverage that Wilson really has struggled, as the undersized linebacker currently owns the worst coverage grade of all linebackers on Pro Football Focus. Overall, Wilson ranks 77th out of 78 linebackers on PFF.
That New England recently brought back Jamie Collins tells you all you need to know about the performance of Wilson — and the linebacking corps as a whole.
Wilson’s playing time has plummeted in the last two weeks. After averaging 40 defense snaps in Weeks 2 and 3, Wilson saw only 10 snaps in Week 4. Against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, he got only nine defensive snaps, all of which came on passing downs. To Wilson’s credit, he earned his highest PFF coverage grade of the season, albeit in a small sample size, and made a great open-field play early in the game. He also got flagged for roughing the passer, though you could argue it was a bogus penalty.
Perhaps a date with his former employer will help Wilson turn things around. It would be a welcome development for a Patriots defense that, while very good, has glaring holes that could be exposed by better teams.
