Chase Winovich was one of five Patriots players who were not spotted at Monday's Patriots mandatory minicamp practice, so on Tuesday Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked about the defensive end/outside linebacker who is heading into his third year.
Belichick praised the Michigan product for his work ethic and versatility, but also acknowledged he still has some things to learn about the Patriots' system and techniques.
“Chase was here for parts of [the voluntary offseason program] and as always, Chase brings a high level of energy and a high work ethic and competitiveness to all the things that he does," he said. "He’s still a young player that’s developing and can continue to grow, both in his understanding of our system and the techniques and some of the assignments that come with it.
“His versatility leads to probably, I would say, a wider range of assignments than maybe some other players, including in the kicking game, but he does a good job of trying to manage all that and work on all of the things that will help the team. He’s team-oriented and he works hard to help the team in a lot of different ways between defense and the kicking game and the groupings that he plays on. He has a pretty fair amount of variety in his responsibility.”
At times Winovich was a situational player in 2020 and with the team adding Matthew Judon, Kyle Van Noy and getting Dont'a Hightower back for this season, it could be more of the same.