It’s Heartbreaking: A very loyal Cleveland Browns player has announced his sudden retirement, sending a powerful statement and bidding the team and supporters a heartfelt farewell.
On Tuesday, Chase Winovich, who appeared in eight games for the Cleveland Browns in 2022, declared his formal retirement from the National Football League.
Before entering the NFL, Winovich, 28, was a highly anticipated edge rusher prospect out of Michigan. During his four years with the Wolverines, he totaled 18.5 sacks. After being selected by the Patriots in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, he had a successful rookie season with 5.5 sacks, then in 2020, he led New England with another 5.5 sack season.
But after failing to register a sack in his third NFL season, Winovich seemed to fall out of favor with the Patriots and had a dismal 2021 campaign. Over the course of the season, he witnessed a progressive drop in playing time and barely appeared in the final six games.
When the Browns dealt LB Mack Wilson to the Patriots in an offseason player-for-player deal in 2022, they handed Winovich a new start.
At first, it was anticipated that Winovich would play a significant part in the defense end rotation. However, he struggled to duplicate his early-career success in Cleveland and missed most of the season due to a hamstring injury. With the Browns, he recorded 20 tackles and one sack, but he wasn’t re-signed in the offseason.
Winovich joined the Texans in March of last year, but at the conclusion of training camp, he was cut loose. Two days later, he joined on with the Dolphins practice squad, played three games, then was cut loose on October 17.
