After five seasons in the NFL, defensive end Chase Winovich took to social media to announce his retirement following the Miami Dolphins’ decision to release him last week. Winovich was selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.
Winovich spent four seasons at the University of Michigan before landing with the Patriots in 2019, where he accumulated 18.5 sacks from 2016-2018. His ability to rush the quarterback was evident in his first two NFL seasons with the Patriots, recording 11 sacks in that time.
After recording zero sacks for the Patriots in 2021, they decided to trade Winovich to the Cleveland Browns in 2022. Unfortunately, Winovich didn’t fare much better with the Browns, totaling just one sack in eight games.
Following his stint with the Browns, Winovich elected to test free agency, where he signed with the Houston Texans. Unfortunately, he was placed on the physically unable to perform list shortly thereafter before being released by them a month later.
Ultimately, Winovich found himself back in the AFC East, where his career all started. Except this time, it was with the Miami Dolphins. He was on the Dolphins practice squad but had been elevated to the game-day roster three times this season to work with the special teams unit.
However, in the NFL, a player can only be elevated from the practice squad up to three times per season. Meaning, that if the Dolphins wanted Winovich on the game-day roster again, they’d need to sign him to a contract.
Instead, the Dolphins chose to release Winovich and he retired shortly thereafter. We wish Winovich nothing but the best in his life after football.
