Will Patrick Chung make the final roster?

I said yes and see it differently than what most here are posting, I think he will have his best season because Belichick will use him as a role player and not have to have him out there as a full time safety. Chung has obvious limitations but can be a successful in the box safety for them, if he does as he's asked and doesn't try to go outside of that he can be a very good role player.

Ivan said:

I said yes and see it differently than what most here are posting, I think he will have his best season because Belichick will use him as a role player and not have to have him out there as a full time safety. Chung has obvious limitations but can be a successful in the box safety for them, if he does as he's asked and doesn't try to go outside of that he can be a very good role player.

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The problem is, if an offense sees him on the field, they'll go after his weakness (coverage). I grew so tired of watching him be late coming over or just get beat time after time. I have no desire to see him playing for NE.

Chung has/had the talent. 96 tackles, 3 INT, 1 TD, 9 Passes Defensed in his 2nd year. Going into his 3rd season he looked like a future superstar with Pro Bowl potential.

Then he had some injuries and was a young player in a very bad secondary. I think his confidence really suffered every time that notoriously bad secondary got torched.

If he can stay healthy and his confidence gets a boost from playing alongside Revis/Browner/McCourty/Dennard/Ryan... Chung might be able to salvage his career.

MrNathanDrake said:

Chung has/had the talent. 96 tackles, 3 INT, 1 TD, 9 Passes Defensed in his 2nd year. Going into his 3rd season he looked like a future superstar with Pro Bowl potential.

Then he had some injuries and was a young player in a very bad secondary. I think his confidence really suffered every time that notoriously bad secondary got torched.

If he can stay healthy and his confidence gets a boost from playing alongside Revis/Browner/McCourty/Dennard/Ryan... Chung might be able to salvage his career.

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Except Chung was a major reason why those secondaries were so bad. If he makes it onto the opening day roster, it's because one of the two factors I listed earlier have happened.

I ddn't see much problem to having a six year vet who's played in 62 NFL games as your #3 or #4 safety.

I would think that Chung making the roster would mean that it would come down to special teams play. For that skill set among the backups at safety I would rate him no higher than fourth, behind Nate Ebner, Kanorris Davis and Tavon Wilson. In addition there is CB Dax Swanson, who could conceivably make the roster for his ST play too.

In other words, I doubt Chung will be on the week one roster.

Chung seems like an ideal shadow roster type player to me.

KontradictioN said:

Except Chung was a major reason why those secondaries were so bad. If he makes it onto the opening day roster, it's because one of the two factors I listed earlier have happened.

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he was given too much responsibility as a 23-24 year old in a horrible secondary that sometimes had Kyle Arrington as the #1 CB. The same Kyle Arrington who is probably the #5 CB on our team this season. Chung was counted on too much at that age.

Look at this list of Cast aways Chung was expected to save.

• 24 Kyle Arrington CB
• 31 Sergio Brown FS
• 25 Patrick Chung FS/SS
• 44 James Ihedigbo SS
• 23 Nate Jones CB/FS
• 32 Devin McCourty CB/FS
• 27 Antwaun Molden CB
• 29 Sterling Moore CB/FS
• 41 Malcolm Williams CB

Even Devin McCourty looked pretty bad at times, playing with that group. McCourty was still finding his niche and transitioning between CB/FS. He wasn't as good as he is now.

It's not unrealistic to think Chung can elevate his game now that he's more experienced and surrounded by an all around better secondary.

jmt57 said:

I would think that Chung making the roster would mean that it would come down to special teams play. For that skill set among the backups at safety I would rate him no higher than fourth, behind Nate Ebner, Kanorris Davis and Tavon Wilson. In addition there is CB Dax Swanson, who could conceivably make the roster for his ST play too.

In other words, I doubt Chung will be on the week one roster.

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What do you base that on? There's no doubt Chung was an outstanding special teams player at one time.

For his four-year career in a Patriot uniform, Chung recorded 235 tackles, three sacks, seven interceptions and 24 special teams tackles.

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That's despite becoming a starter in his second year, and missed games due to injury.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140730/SPORTS/140739458/11177/SPORTS

MrNathanDrake said:

he was given too much responsibility as a 23-24 year old in a horrible secondary that sometimes had Kyle Arrington as the #1 CB. The same Kyle Arrington who is probably the #5 CB on our team this season. Chung was counted on too much at that age.

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Chung was counted on to be a reliable starting safety. To do that, he had to be solid in coverage, be able to diagnose plays pre-snap, be a solid tackler (which means taking good angles to the ball), be on time to help on deep routes, and be solid against the run. He only did one of those things even remotely well and, even then, he's overrated against the run. He sucks in coverage (targetted often by the opposing QB), he clearly had trouble diagnosing what the offense was doing which was a reason why he was always so late to the play, and he took angles to the ball that made James Sanders look like Ronnie Lott in comparison at times.

Look at this list of Cast aways Chung was expected to save.

• 24 Kyle Arrington CB
• 31 Sergio Brown FS
• 25 Patrick Chung FS/SS
• 44 James Ihedigbo SS
• 23 Nate Jones CB/FS
• 32 Devin McCourty CB/FS
• 27 Antwaun Molden CB
• 29 Sterling Moore CB/FS
• 41 Malcolm Williams CB

Even Devin McCourty looked pretty bad at times, playing with that group. McCourty was still finding his niche and transitioning between CB/FS. He wasn't as good as he is now.

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McCourty is not a very good corner when playing man coverage. His strength, pretty clearly, is keeping his head turned toward the ball and using his range to make plays on both sides of the field. That's why he's lined up at safety and it's also why Chung eventually lost his job in 2012.

It's not unrealistic to think Chung can elevate his game now that he's surrounded by an all around better secondary.

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He won't elevate his game if he's on the field with those guys. His flaws will just be better masked because they'll do their part in covering his ass, if it even comes to that. Consider this: Chung's college coach thought so much of him and his stellar play in a system that he excelled in at Oregon that he decided to bench and then part ways with him after the season. The rest of the NFL thought so much of him that he generated a very minute amount of interest afterward.

Again, if Chung is on the team, it's because Tavon Wilson really is THAT bad or he carves out a niche on special teams.

I felt like his biggest problem was in taking bad angles to the ball. Hopefully that's cleaned up because I at least did enjoy his style of play (his physical threat). Remember the pop he put on H.Nicks in the Super Bowl? Well, that's the type of 'presence' we want. Hopefully Chung can be of use when he is only used sparingly.

MrNathanDrake said:

...Going into his 3rd season he looked like a future superstar with Pro Bowl potential...

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No, he didn't.

KontradictioN said:

Consider this: Chung's college coach thought so much of him and his stellar play in a system that he excelled in at Oregon that he decided to bench and then part ways with him after the season. The rest of the NFL thought so much of him that he generated a very minute amount of interest afterward.

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Consider this: Chung's NFL coach (Bill Belichick) thought enough of Chung to give him a second chance. Something BB rarely does with any player.

I think he will make it I think Chung still has some talent left in him.

All you really expect from your 3rd or 4th safety is:

a) know the defensive calls and where to line up
b) a vet minimum cap hit

Sometimes I get the feeling around here that people actually think an NFL team can have a 53 man roster of starter-caliber players and no JAGs.

Now, I have no idea if Pat Chung will make the Pats roster. Don't really care one way or the other. Just saying that having your JAG backup safety be a guy with 6 years and 62 games of NFL experience wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

As for Chip Kelly cutting him and Belichick signing him... neither of those decisions can be evaluated without consideration of his respective cap hit. I don't care enough to research it, but in Philly, Chung was entering the middle to back end of a free agent contract and I'm guessing there would be some significant salary numbers (and cap hits). I think he's on more of a vet bargain deal in New England. You have to have some vet bargain deal players in a secondary with a $12 million cornerback.

MrNathanDrake said:

Consider this: Chung's NFL coach (Bill Belichick) thought enough of Chung to give him a second chance. Something BB rarely does with any player.

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Chung's NFL Coach (Bill Belichick) thought so little of Chung that he had him behind Gregory and Wilson on the depth chartby the end of 2013. Chung's other NFL coach, who was also his college coach (Chip Kelly), thought so little of Chung that he cut him after just one season, after having signed him for 3 years, $10 million.

MrNathanDrake said:

Consider this: Chung's NFL coach (Bill Belichick) thought enough of Chung to give him a second chance. Something BB rarely does with any player.

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And all of this was after Belichick benched him for a corner conversion two years ago and then ultimately let him walk. I'm almost tempted to bring up posts from when he got signed with the Eagles to remind the forum of what everybody thought of him at the point in time when he was no longer a Patriot.

Chung = Slow and Fragile not a good combination for a Not For Long Safety.

The situation is straightforward. We have an backup in Ryan, who can play in situations where a safety might be usually used. We have starters in McCourty and Harmon.

The OPEN question is who will Belichick choose as the special teamers who will be the #3 safety? Also, who will be the emergency #4 or even #5 safety.

Even Ryan is OK at safety, it seems that we are fine with carrying only 2 backups from Wilson, Chung, Davis and Ebner. It would a MAJOR PLUS if one of them could actually be counted on a safety in case of an injury to one of the starters. Obviously, we have situations with 2 injuries. I suspect Ryan would be one of the choices in that situation. So, we do really NEED a #3 safety. Sure, I'd love to see Wilson stand out; we all would. Unfortunately, that may not happen.