One and Done: First year Browns players that didn’t earn a second season

Browns DE, Chase Winovich

Chase Winovich, the former New England Patriots defender, was brought to Cleveland in hopes that he could provide a spark at the defensive end spot in a backup role to give breaks to Myles Garrett and Javeon Clowney on the edge.

Unfortunately, Winovich was injured quite a bit this past season, and while he had a few good games where his name was called, it wasn’t enough to be excited about his return. As mentioned earlier with Schwartz, taking over as defensive coordinator, he will look to find his type of players to fit his defense and Winovich likely didn’t do enough to capture Schwartz’s interest in all likelihood.

The former Michigan Wolverine was selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by New England, where he spent his first three seasons. He only was able to play in eight games, including two starts this season for the Browns, and recorded 20 tackles and had one sack.

Now he’s a free agent and he will likely look to strike a deal with a new team. He could follow the Browns’ former defensive coordinator Joe Woods down to New Orleans where he was recently named the Saints’ new defensive coordinator.

It’s a bit of a disappointment that Winovich missed an opportunity in Cleveland because of his nagging injury. He’d been looked at as a good replacement for Mack Wilson, who went to Winovich’s old team the New England Patriots in a trade that swapped the two players.

Wilson had a decent season back in New England but didn’t do anything spectacular either. So, I’d say it was a bit of a wash with the trade results.