FOXBORO — Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise has been proud to show off his new arsenal of pass-rushing combinations over the past three weeks, the new moves representing the culmination of an offseason dedicated to making a good rusher even better.
Wise, 24, greatly exceeded expectations during his rookie season, but the 2017 fourth-rounder hoped that would set him up to make an even greater impact this season. So far, his quickness has stood out at Patriots training camp.
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“I looked through all my film from last year, throughout the season and at the very end,” Wise said. “Some of the finer things I wanted to improve on, just doing my counter moves faster, certain moves more powerful. Finding my little niche of moves and perfecting that, to be honest, and then finding moves off that. I worked on hand speed and pad level. Those were my top two primary things that I worked on. That’s what I wanted to portray to my teammates and coaches that I have improved over the offseason.”
Wise was the Patriots’ second-best pass rusher last season, complementing Trey Flowers’ impressive breakout, but the rookie’s prowess is even more eye-popping when measured in proper perspective. Wise had 31 disruptions (five sacks, 14 quarterback hits, 12 pressures) in the regular season, which would have been enough to lead the 2016 Patriots — who deployed Chris Long (29 disruptions), Jabaal Sheard (28), Flowers (22) and Rob Ninkovich (17).
More astounding, Wise was that productive on a limited basis, as the Patriots tried to preserve him after he battled injuries at the close of his career at Arkansas. Wise played 543 snaps (51.2 percent), so he recorded one disruption per 17.5 plays. He was far more efficient than the veteran group in 2016: Long (one disruption per 23.3 plays), Sheard (20.7), Flowers (25.6) and Ninkovich (27.7).
But like any good pro, Wise spent his offseason further refining his cache of moves, especially his hand speed. One tactic? Working out with five-pound gloves.
“Pretty much practicing my moves over and over and over again until they become fast enough really, and working on my reaction,” Wise said. “Working on my pass-rush moves with weighted gloves, doing the moves over and over again, and also working on reaction with things like (catching) tennis balls off the wall. To get better at something, you have to do it. I heard you have to do something 1,000 times before it becomes perfected.”
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Wise’s workouts varied depending on his offseason whereabouts. Sometimes, he’d head to his old stomping grounds at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, or to a gym with a friend. His father, Deatrich Wise Sr., was a defensive tackle for the Seahawks and Saints before finishing his career in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League and then continuing as a coach for more than a decade. So Wise grabbed his dad for some training sessions, along with his brother Daniel Wise, a defensive tackle at Kansas.
“I’ll work anywhere,” Wise said.
Wise balanced the budget, too. He knew it wouldn’t have been smart to strictly focus on his upper body, so there was plenty of time devoted to the lower half.
“In order to play D-line, you not only need hand speed and eye coordination, but you also need foot speed,” Wise said. “You can’t have slow feet. Like my dad says, ‘Slow feet, don’t eat.’ Doing the ladders, running hills, everything to be honest. Just making sure my feet are moving when my hands move. If my feet stay alive, I can stay alive.”
He hasn’t slowed down since returning to Foxboro. Wise is routinely one of the last players off the field after practice, as the Pats’ group of defensive ends spend a ton of time on their technique on a daily basis. It’s not just a few minutes of extra work, either. They’re sometimes out there for a half hour or 45 minutes after the final horn of the day.
Wise pummeled Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy once last week in the preseason opener, and he plans on that being the first of many violent meetings with opposing signal callers this season. That’s been the goal for months on end, and he understands he is nowhere near a finished product.
Even if a play works in his favor, Wise might rewind it and recognize he could have gotten lower, or added an extra dose of power or gotten into the backfield a tick faster. Pass rushing is about making adjustments and countermoves, so a move that works once might not bear the same fruit another time. There’s a constant pursuit of an ungraspable perfection. Wise understands that at a young age.
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“I feel like I have made improvements,” Wise said. “Being a big critic of myself, a big perfectionist, I like to improve on that. I still see areas where I need to improve on. Even when people say, ‘I see you getting better,’ I always say, ‘Thank you.’ But there’s always something I can improve.”
Top Photo of Wise (91) during training camp drills by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
