New England Patriots Made ‘Most Surprising’ Draft Pick In AFC East

The New England Patriots did a really good job at the 2019 NFL Draft, and made a few awesome choices. Chase Winovich is one of them. NFL.com’s Dan Parr gave the team an A grade for the draft picks. According to him, the selection of Winovich was the most surprising pick in the AFC East.

“It’s not a surprise that the Patriots took him midway through the third round. It is a surprise that the rest of the league’s teams let it happen. We’re talking about Chase Winovich here, the high-motor guy with the golden locks who always seems to be in the right spot. He was No. 48 in NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s ranking of the draft’s top 100 players, yet somehow he fell into New England’s lap with the 77th overall pick. He’s one of the biggest steals of the draft. Here’s another guy who doesn’t have ideal size and seems to have been punished for it in the draft. He’ll make teams regret passing him up. The rich get richer in New England.”

Winovich is the perfect fit for the Patriots front seven, and he will definitely give the team some depth on the edge. Last season, Winovich totaled 59 tackles, 15.5 for a loss and five sacks. In his collegiate career, he totaled 166 tackles, 43 tackles for a loss and 18.5 sacks.

“I like to think of myself as kind of a junkyard dog, just tenacious, relentless effort and motor, just scrapping for every inch,” Winovich said of his style of play. “But at the same time, I like to think I’m slippery here – as they say in Pittsburgh, ‘slippy.’ I think I bring some versatility and I think my combine was an example of some of the speed that I have, and when you factor all of that in together, I think that makes me a pretty interesting pick and prospect and football player in general. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to go out there, prove my worth to the other guys on the team and ultimately to the rest of the world.”