Chung right at home since returning to Patriots

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FOXBORO - Bill Belichick admits that it was hard to watch Patrick Chung leave New England for the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2013.

Chung, according to Belichick, has been a consistent player for the Patriots dating back to his first four years in the organization after the Patriots drafted him in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Having spent the early part of his career patrolling - or trying his best to patrol - the deep part of the field, as instructed by Belichick, Chung has since moved up in the box (as he did in college under current Eagles head coach Chip Kelly in Oregon) in his second go-around and both Chung and the Patriots are reaping the benefits.

"I think the biggest difference is probably our scheme and what we’ve asked him to do relative to what he did in the four years that he was here, but again, he’s not I think appreciably different than what he was," Belichick said. "His skills, his attitude, his work ethic, dependability, toughness, he’s always been a good tackler, always been a good coverage player, he runs well, he’s a smart guy. I just think that his ability to play close to the line of scrimmage, which is what he did very well in college, he’s had more opportunities to do it and has been in the deep part of the field less than he was when he was here in the past. We have [Duron] Harmon, we have [Devin McCourty], we have other guys that do a good job of that. Not that he doesn’t play deep, not that they don’t play up, but on a percentage basis he’s done more of that so I think it’s more a function of probably us than it is him."

After the 2012 season, Chung hit free agency and signed a three-year, $10 million contract with the Eagles. He'd be reunited with his college coach, who would put him in positions to succeed much like he did at Oregon. The situation, said Belichick, was better in Philly than it was with the Patriots at the time. While there weren't many outside of the organization that upset to see him go, Belichick knew the type of player and person he was losing.

"Pat’s always been a great person to coach, as a coach," Belichick said. "He wants to do what you want him to do and he’ll work hard to do it the way you want it done. However you tell him to do it – you want inside, you want outside, you want high, you want low – whatever flavor you want he’s going to try and mix it up and give it to you. So you really appreciate that about a player. And he’s got a good skill set. He can do a lot of different things. He’s a talented player. We talked about it. It just didn’t work out those first four years. I wouldn’t say those four years were bad by any means. It just probably didn’t work out quite to the degree that it has the last two."

Chung was released by the Eagles after just one season. The Patriots, just a day later, had agreements with cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner to join the team. Meanwhile, Devin McCourty had turned into one of the best free safeties in the game, fully capable of covering the deep part of the football field. All of a sudden, the fit was there for the now-available Chung.

He signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Patriots in 2014 and had the best season of his career, helping the Patriots win a Super Bowl in the process.

"He signed a three-year contract in Philadelphia, and then after he was released then we followed back up on the conversation that we had when he left and kind of [said] like, 'Look things are a little bit different here.' I think there was certainly a good level of trust between the two of us and what he told me I believed, I think what I told him he believed, and we were able to kind of find a better place going forward than what we had before when he was here. But to his credit he never complained. He never [said], 'I should be doing this,' or, 'Why am I doing that?' or, 'Why don’t we do this?' or, 'Why don’t we do something else?' That never happened one time, so that was never an issue. But just overall schematically, I think we’ve been able to utilize his skills better in the last two years than we did in the last four. It’s not his fault, it’s not our fault. We weren’t trying to do anything to him. We were just trying to win games. But it’s definitely worked out very productively for him the last two seasons.
 
Chung turned his one-year deal into a three-year extension worth up to $8.2 million with the Patriots and is once again having the best season of his career. Going into Sunday against his former team, he leads the team in tackles with 58 to go along with seven pass breakups. He's become an integral part of a defense currently ranked 5th in the NFL in points allowed per game at 19.3.

"I would say as a player in general the longer you’re in the league and the more experience you have with one system – or in his case back with our system – you learn a lot more of the details, the intricacies of what we’re trying to do and the concepts of what we’re trying to get done," Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said earlier this week. "I think just the experience that he’s gaining through his years in the league has helped him to develop as a player.

It looks to be yet another good move by the top-ranked NFL GM Belichick, who couldn't have handled Chung's free agency any better the first and second time around. Sure, Belichick the coach was always a big fan of Chung, but Belichick the GM knew when the money didn't make sense for what the Patriots were at that time. And for Belichick, it's always about what's best for the team. No hard feelings.
 
"They’re all interrelated to me," Belichick said of his GM and coaching decisions. "I’m fortunate that I have input in really all those decisions and I just try to do what’s best for the team, that’s all," Belichick said. "I’m not trying to hurt anybody. I’m not trying to help any individual. I’m trying to help the team. My decisions are based on what’s best for the team. I made that clear to the team on numerous occasions in no uncertain terms. My decisions are easy. They’re what’s best for the team. That doesn’t mean everybody likes them. That doesn’t mean everybody thinks that they are the best for them individually or maybe even their unit, but in the end the overall decisions are made for the overall betterment of the team. Sure, there may be some that are right, I’m sure plenty are wrong. Regardless of whatever we think about them, that’s the intent behind them. I don’t think that’s hard. I think that’s easy.

"Frankly, I think the harder thing is make the decision that’s good for an individual player which then really isn’t the best thing for the other 52 guys. So you’re picking one guy to say, 'OK well we’ll do this for him so he’s happy,' but in the end if you’ve even marginally affected the other 52, I think that’s really acting irresponsibly as a coach. I don’t believe in that. That’s the way I look at it."

A quick look at the Patriots roster, which is filled with Patriots-drafted and NFL-undrafted talent on it, confirms Belichick's philosophy. It also explains why a team-first guy like Chung is a big part of it.

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