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When Matt Light was interviewed a few weeks ago and discussed the Pats' defense, he singled out Chung along with Mayo and Wilfork as being the "heart and soul of the defense":
BostonHerald.com - Blogs: The Blitz» Blog Archive » Matt Light discusses how Patriots can improve on defense
It's not clear whether that is just Light's personal view, or whether it is reflective of how the organization views Chung. But it does suggest that the Pats may have a different appreciation of what Chung brings than many of the people on this board - just as the organization clearly values Jerod Mayo to a greater extent than most fans. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but if the team shares Matt Light's view that Chung is part of the "heart and soul" of the defense then they may value him more highly than we necessarily would predict.
I was a bit surprised when Devin McCourty was elected a team captain over Chung last year. In retrospect, it may have been too much responsibility too soon for McCourty. I'll be curious to see whether McCourty remains a team captain this year or whether Chung takes over that role. That could be an indicator of how the team views him going into his contract year.
Certainly good points. We've seen plenty of instances where the team has felt differently than many here, and this could possibly be one more example.
Wilfork>Mayo>Chung = strength up the middle of the heart of the defense, but he certainly does need to take another step or two. The defense improved significantly and obviously that was a product of several different choices, but seeing Chung add so much at the end of the year suprised me in a pleasant way.
If he can stay a bit healthier and improve on his pass defense, then he is certainly one of the promising young players on the team heading forward into the future. The problem is that he hasn't really done either one as of yet, at least not to enough of a level to warrant a decent kind of deal.
I really would like to have him back, but he's one of those questionable kind of players that I have a hard time figuring out as far as potential compensation. Luckily, I don't have to make those kinds of decisions. Right now I wouldn't give him much more than 4-5 million per, but that could certainly change with a good 'prove it' contract year.