Michigan DC Don Brown on Chase Winovich's strengths, weaknesses, and how he'll fit with Patriots

You want to know just how much Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown loves talking about Chase Winovich? He’ll call you back while on safari in South Africa to talk about the edge defender who was taken in the third round by the Patriots late last month.

Brown, who has been with the Wolverines for the last three seasons, admittedly has some biases in play when it comes to the wild-haired defender. But from halfway around the world on Wednesday, he told BostonSportsJournal.com in no uncertain terms what sort of player the Patriots are getting when it comes to the 6-foot-3, 256-pounder.

“There’s no one who will give more, try harder, or compete harder than he will,” Brown said of Winovich. “He has a tremendous skill set, and I think the ability to show some positional flexibility will be good for him. He could rush the passer or play the run game from a defensive end position, or as an outside linebacker. I get that it’ll probably be more as an outside linebacker in the pros. We didn’t ask him to do that all that much.

“My thing as a defensive coordinator? The more he was chasing the quarterback, the better off we were.”

More of a pass rusher than anything, Winovich was full-tilt, straight-ahead, all the time at Michigan. He'll have to learn some of the rules of edge play in New England, like the ability to drop into coverage and run with pass catchers, something he didn't do much of as a collegian.

But with the Wolverines, he had 18.5 sacks and 43 tackles for loss. Initially, that certainly bodes well for a team that could use a bit of a pass-rush jolt.

“When I got here (in 2016), we moved him into a weak-side defensive end role. Well, he played in our sub-packages as a rush guy, and he had tremendous success,” Brown recalled. “In his second year, he played more weak-side defensive end, and we had him do some other stuff as well after he added 12 to 14 pounds. It was just smooth sailing — an easy transition for him. He played some and practiced a bunch, but he was behind (future Cowboys’ defensive end) Taco Charlton. But we could always maximize his talents as a pass rusher.

“Then, he just moved into the defensive end spot full time, and we had two great years there with a lot of great productivity, whether it was sacks or tackles for loss.”

That versatility extends to the other side of the ball. He played quarterback at Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, Pa., while also getting reps at linebacker.

“We played an away game at our rivals, and he was at quarterback, his high school coach, Bill Cherpak, told BSJ. “He ran the ball all night — he just tore it up. The other teams’ AD told me afterward it was the greatest performance they had ever seen.”

He also lined up occasionally on offense in his early days at Michigan before switching back to defense. Cherpak also recalls a phone call he had with Winovich when the Wolverines weren’t quite sure what to do with him, and were apparently planning to use him as an H-back. Cherpak asked Winovich what he was going to do.

“I’m going to be the best H-back they’ve ever seen,” Winovich told him.