The expectation for Patrick Chung this season was to make the leap from very good player to something greater. To further blossom into the leader and quarterback of the secondary. And to be an impactful player every game. This is, after all, Chung’s fourth season with the Patriots. It’s also a contract year, a make-or-break proposition for the safety, who was taken in the second round by the Pats in the 2009 draft. To this point, Chung hasn’t done much to help his case. If anything, he’s merely thrown more doubt onto the pile.
Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison [stats], who retired the year before Chung arrived, said this should be Chung’s time to take charge, his time to shine. Only now he’s hurt once again. And prior to suffering a shoulder injury against Seattle, which left him on the sidelines for the win over the Jets on Sunday, Chung had made more head-scratching moves in the secondary than game-winning type plays. At this stage in his career, Chung has to be better than what he’s shown, especially in a secondary that’s struggling to survive week to week.
“The main thing is, it’s hard for a lot of players to play in that contract year because they’re trying so hard to be perfect. That contract really puts a lot of pressure on them,” Harrison said Monday. “But to be honest, it’s three going on four years now. He should have developed into one of the top-tier safeties in the league. If you think about the top safeties right now, you don’t think of Patrick Chung. Unfortunately, he has that type of ability, too.”
Harrison, an NBC analyst, believed the Pats chose wisely when they selected Chung out of Oregon. The hope was Chung would eventually lead the secondary in a similar manner as Harrison did when he was the quarterback of the Pats defensive backs. Only Chung, who stands at 5-foot-11, 212 pounds, keeps running into the injury wall and can’t stay on the field. He played in just eight games last year. We’ll see what happens with his latest injury.
“I’ll tell you this. What happens is this: They’ll give you three or four years. If you’re lucky, they’ll give you four years. That’s if you’re lucky,” said Harrison. “After 2-3 years, if you’re not getting better, and it’s getting to a point where they feel like you can’t really be the great player they want you to be, they’ll go in a different direction. If they’re willing to spend $6-7-8 million dollars a year on a safety, if you haven’t been out there, and you’re not what they think you should be, I mean, you’ve got to be dominant for that type of money from the Patriots,” Harrison went on. “And if you’re not there, you’re not going to get it. They’ll go out and get somebody else. That’s the harsh reality.”
