Chung returns as a key member of New England’s secondary." /

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FanPostsFanShotsAbout the Site List of Patriots Twitter AccountsWrite For Pats Pulpit!New User Welcome and Commenting GuideCommunity GuidelinesMastheadTopics Patriots Off-Season CoveragePatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots NewsPatriots Draft CoverageSportfolio ManagementFiled under:Patriots AnalysisPatriots Player ProfilesPatriots Offseason CoverageNew England Patriots 2019 roster breakdown: #23 SS Patrick ChungNew Jarrett Stidham Jersey Draft ,9commentsChung returns as a key member of New England’s secondary.EDTShareTweetShareShareNew England Patriots 2019 roster breakdown: #23 SS Patrick ChungKirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsThe New England Patriots, who will be off until training camp starts in late July, currently have 90 players on their active roster. However, only 53 of them will be able to survive the cutdowns on August 31 and ultimately make the team. Over the course of the summer, we will take a look at the players fighting for those spots to find out who has the best chances of helping the Patriots defend their Super Bowl title.Today, the series continues with one of New England’s team captains.Name: Patrick ChungPosition: Strong safetyJersey number: 23Age: 32Experience: 10Size: 5’11, 215 lbs.2018 review: The 2018 season started and ended in style for Patrick Chung. The story of his tenth year in the league and ninth with the Patriots — he spent 2013 with the Philadelphia Eagles — essentially started in mid-March, when the veteran defender and the club agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $7.8 million. The deal ran through the 2020 season and was shaped to reflect Chung’s role in New England: he is a core defender.2018 was a perfect example of that. Chung, who was voted a team captain for the first time in his career, again filled his role as the Patriots’ undisputed starting strong safety — a valuable player that serves as a defensive back/linebacker hybrid — admirably and was again a durable and reliable contributor: he played the fourth-most defensive snaps on the team and appeared in eighteen of New England’s nineteen games over the course of the season.If not for a concussion suffered in the second week of the regular season that also forced him to sit out the Patriots’ next game, Chung certainly would have been on the field for more than his 887 regular season snaps (of 1,043; 85.0%). Nevertheless, he made the most of his comparatively limited playing time: the former second-round draft pick was a productive and physical presence in the Patriots’ defensive backfield.His role looked like it did ever since he returned from Philadelphia in 2014. Chung played primarily close to the line of scrimmage as a quasi-linebacker when the Patriots were in a nickel or dime formation, and in coverage of tight ends, slot receivers and running backs. The three-down defender played the same role in the postseason, when he was on the field for 149 of the Patriots’ 188 snaps (79.3%). If not for a broken arm suffered in Super Bowl 53, Chung likely would have played 100% of New England’s defensive playoff snaps.Chung’s defensive statistics are proof of his versatile skill set and usage by the Patriots. All in all, he finished the year with 97 tackles — the second most on the team behind Kyle Van Noy — and also regularly showed up as a pass rusher: Chung registered a half-sack, three quarterback hits and five hurries. Furthermore, he recovered a fumble and was active as a coverage player. Chung allowed only 56.9% of passes thrown his way to be completed (37 of 65) for 359 yards Jarrett Stidham NFL Jersey , four touchdowns and an interception.On top of it all, the 31-year-old also was a regular member of the Patriots’ special teams units. Over the course of the season, he played 228 of a possible 545 snaps in the kicking game (41.8%) and registered a combined five tackles. And even though his special teams statistics are not outstanding, they still played a role in New England ending the 2018 season as Super Bowl winners.2019 preview: Coming off another productive season as the team’s top strong safety, the Patriots and Chung agreed to a new contract: the two sides agreed to add an additional year to the defender’s existing deal that brings its total value over the next three seasons to $11.8 million. Chung’s role in 2019, when he hits New England’s books with a $4.5 million cap hit, is therefore projected to remain unchanged.Chung will again serve as a starter in the Patriots’ defensive backfield and as the club’s top option as a box-safety — despite breaking his arm in early February. As such, the three-time Super Bowl winner will again see regular playing time on defense and special teams. Even though he is getting up there in age, Chung is projected to play around 90% of New England’s defensive snaps as well as an additional 40-ish% in the kicking game yet again.Once more, he will be a key player on the Patriots from stopping the run and defending the underneath areas in the passing game, to playing on all four units in the kicking game, to serving as an off-field leader and team captain. New England has one of the best secondaries in all of football, and Chung’s role in it is a big reason for that — something that is not expected to change in 2019. The GOAT expanded his social media game, let’s see how things look for him so far."WhitePatriots News Opinion and Analysis Contribute! FanPostsFanShotsAbout the Site List of Patriots Twitter AccountsWrite For Pats Pulpit!New User Welcome and Commenting GuideCommunity GuidelinesMastheadTopics Patriots Off-Season CoveragePatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots NewsPatriots Draft CoverageSportfolio ManagementPatriots First ReadFilm room: Breaking down Tom Brady’s first day on TwitterNew,2commentsThe GOAT expanded his social media game, let’s see how things look for him so far.EDTShareTweetShareShareFilm room: Breaking down Tom Brady’s first day on TwitterStew Milne-USA TODAY SportsApril Fool’s Day may be over but its outcome will be felt for a long time: Tom Brady announced that he had expanded his social media presence and joined Twitter — doing it in the most Tom Brady way possible, by posting a dad-joke level tweet about retiring and spending his spare time tweeting. And tweeting he (i.e. in arrangement with his social team, more probable than not) did, at least a couple of times.But let’s start at the beginning and break down the GOAT’s first day on Twitter one-by-one.Tom Brady’s profileThe Twitter account @TomBrady grew at a rate of about 1,000 followers per minute early on. If you hurry up now Jarrett Stidham NFL Draft , you can be among the select few: right now, the club is still not even 300,000 members big — a club that sees the following when visiting Brady’s profile as of right now (being 5:00 a.m. on April 2):Screenshot of Tom Brady’s Twitter pageLet’s go through the profile’s most distinct features to find out more about Brady’s profile:The profile picture: Ah, that magnificent jaw-line. We see Brady happily looking away from the camera, possibly towards his favorite Super Bowl: the next one. And that appears to be a realistic option when looking at the jersey he’s wearing. The photo was taken at Super Bowl 53 and as you may have heard by now, the Patriots won the game — giving Brady his all-time record sixth championship.The header image: The six titles are also part of the header image, as you can see them listed on the shirt he is wearing in the header. The photo itself is from a few days after the Super Bowl, from the Patriots’ championship parade, and shows Brady amidst the two things he cares most about: his family and his football. Speaking of them, they are also prominently featured in...The personal information: The @TomBrady handle, verified of course, and the phrase “Family and Football” — no more words are needed to describe Tom Brady and his newly created presence on Twitter.The content: So far, Brady’s account posted just two Tweets connected to each other. Making a thread instead of two separate posts is some next level stuff — Brady surely did his homework and research before dipping his toes into the raging and not entirely clean waters that is Twitter dot com.Tom Brady’s tweetsAs just said, Brady made two stand-alone tweets from his account but he also six replies to other people: his wife, Gisele B眉ndchen, actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, former Patriots wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth, ESPN’s Steve Levy, and pro golfer Rickie Fowler. But let’s break those two forms of using Twitter apart.Brady’s tweetsThere are two of Brady’s tweets so far, getting posted 65 minutes apart from each other:Brady’s first Tweet Jarrett Stidham Buffalo Bills Jersey , of course, the aforementioned dad-joke. Of course, joke’s on us if he is really retiring and kudos to him if that were the case — what a way it would be to go! Given his previous statements about him wanting to play until age 45, however, it looks as if his tweet is indeed an attempt at April Foolery.It was then followed up by another tweet as a reaction to the first:Was it a bad joke? The joke itself maybe was, but making it the announcement that Brady had joined Twitter makes it worthwhile.Brady’s repliesAs mentioned above, Brady — not counting himself reacting to his first-ever tweet — posted six replies on his first day. A solid interaction rate with plenty of star power involved in it. Along the way, the future Hall of Fame football players showed great photoshop skills......and a really good feel for his surroundings — the hallmark of every great quarterback and social media user:All in all, Brady produced some solid content all day long. He showed plenty of versatility and an ability to rally the troops — just look at his growth-rate and the numbers of likes and retweets on each post of his. Oh, and Brady also showed tremendous off-field chemistry with his number one teammate:Tom Brady’s favorite accountsNothing out of the ordinary when it comes to who Brady follows. After starting the day following nobody, he started firing up the old “follow” button — hitting it as often as if it was overtime in a playoff game. The first five accounts to see the honor of being followed by the GOAT bestowed upon them were the following:A great mix of his team, his business, his wife, as well as a current and a former teammate. Great level of diversity that also can be found through the rest of the accounts he follows: from players he played with, to sponsors and business ventures, to artists, to other athletes throughout the world of sports.All in all, Brady’s first day on Twitter was similar to his first day as a starting quarterback back in 2001: it may not have been perfect but many of the traits that have since made him the all-time-great he is were already on display.