{"id":96156,"date":"2020-10-12T21:15:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T01:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=96156"},"modified":"2020-10-12T21:19:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T01:19:19","slug":"michael-onwenu-chase-winovich-new-england-patriots-youth-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/10\/12\/michael-onwenu-chase-winovich-new-england-patriots-youth-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Onwenu, Chase Winovich Lead New England Patriots Youth Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past few seasons, the New England Patriots<\/a> had one of the oldest rosters in the league. While this veteran-heavy team-building approach led to a lot of wins, it also left the team playing for a short-term window. The departure of Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong> effectively ended one era of the team, yet New England remains competitive thanks to a youth movement headlined by Michael Onwenu<\/a><\/strong> and Chase Winovich<\/a><\/strong>. While these two might not be primary reasons for New England\u2019s 2020 success (a guard and an edge defender will never be as valuable as a quarterback and a coaching staff), both players are starting to establish themselves as the faces of the next generation of the franchise.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots Youth Movement Headed By Michael Onwenu, Chase Winovich<\/h2>\n

Michael Onwenu: The Steal of the 2020 NFL Draft<\/h3>\n

As mentioned in our draft profile<\/a>, Michael Onwenu flashed a lot of the skills you like to see in a collegiate athlete. An absolute monster of a man, Onwenu was simply unstoppable in the trenches and excelled at opening run lanes. At the time, he was a great value in the sixth round, but most people (including me) thought he had a fairly limited ceiling and would never be anything more than a solid starter.<\/p>\n

Through four games, Onwenu has exceeded even the wildest expectations set before him. By all measurements, the Michigan product has come out of the gate as one of the NFL\u2019s elite guards. He\u2019s arguably the best rookie in all of football, and his 92.2 PFF grade is second-best among guards. We are dealing with an admittedly small sample here, but it\u2019s hard to find anything bad on Onwenu\u2019s tape.<\/p>\n

Nobody doubted Onwenu\u2019s ability to win in one-on-one situations, as he has the size and strength to move just about anyone. However, nobody expected him to look this good this quickly<\/a>. The rookie has yet to find a defender he\u2019s not willing to destroy, and his versatility is an unexpected surprise. Throughout the season, the Patriots have used Onwenu at guard, tackle, tight end, and fullback, and the rookie always answers the call.<\/p>\n

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I went ahead and made a quick tape of my favorite trait of Onwenu; heavy handiness. You can see how often he makes the heads of defenders snap back on contact + how they visibly bounce off of him. It's one of the more fun things to uncover watching OL film. pic.twitter.com\/90LFRoHVXb<\/a><\/p>\n

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) October 7, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n