Bedard: Deatrich Wise is a unicorn in a lot of ways for these Patriots, but will that be enough?

FOXBOROUGH — Everybody knows Deatrich Wise is one of hardest-working Patriots players — if he's not alone at the top of the list. Request him for an interview at your own peril after a training camp practice. Be prepared to be there a while. He almost conducts another practice, sometimes by himself, for about 30-45 minutes after the official practice ended.

He's got pass-rush moves to work on. First against a sled. Then against someone else. He'll take a rookie aside and work on handwork for another 20 minutes.

"I have goals of being great," Wise said recently. "To be great, you have to keep working — work on your strength and strengthen your weaknesses."

See, it's this unique attitude that as me thinking a lot about Wise as cutdown day nears. I've had him off the roster on the last three versions of my 53-man roster. Yes, the same guy I said appeared to be "the real deal" two weeks into his rookie camp.

It's not him, it's the Patriots. They've changed (on defense). People grow apart (in scheme).

We'll get into all that, but there's a quote attributed to Bill Belichick from his acolytes that I always come back to this time of year, which speaks to the Wise predicament and others like him: you're putting together the best team, not the most talented 53 players.

And that's why I keep coming back to Wise and staring at his name on the depth chart: Man, that guy is good to have around on a team. He has one of the unique personalities you'll come across. He's just a guy you want to be around. He makes you and his teammates feel good. Maybe Belichick feels the same way.

Take Wise coming back from off-season ankle surgery. Most players, headed into their crucial third season — especially coming off a campaign where he got fewer snaps and missed two postseason games — would be a little irritated that they were delayed, missed practices and then was obviously not quite there physically when he returned to the practice field. Not Wise.

"It’s been just like any other camp and every year has adversities, every year has ups and downs," Wise said. "This challenge is just me getting back on the field and getting healthy. Nothing was different. I just had a minor thing to take care of and I took care of it, now I’m back."

Once he did get back on the field, Wise obviously tried to play catch up. He missed the first two rounds of 1-on-1 pass rush drills, an area he normally flourishes. When he returned, Wise was really rusty, going 0-2-1 with one decisive loss. Most players would take their licks, maybe take the next day off, or dial it back.

Again, Not Wise.

Wise took an amazing and unheard of SEVEN reps of 1-on-1s the next day. It was the NFL equivalent of Rudy never stopping against the Notre Dame varsity. He'd get a rep, take a breather, and jump inside to take a rep there. Then he'd take reps on the other side. To put it another way, Adam Butler and Michael Bennett came in second with four each during that same camp practice.

And Wise was completely unbothered that he went 1-3-3 in those reps to start camp 1-5-4.

"Well, yeah, I haven’t played football since February so I definitely have been behind everybody," Wise said. "I’ve been on the mental game, doing all the mental reps and watching film to get back into the rhythm and back into the motion of playing football and playing with my teammates, getting the communication, just getting back on the grass. Getting back into that has taken a little time. I’ve had to bounce back quick."

The question is, will it be too late for Wise (who finished camp 3-1-1) with a loaded roster, especially with edge players if Derek Rivers and Shilique Calhoun get healthy?

It might be, mostly because of the scheme.

When the Patriots drafted Wise, they were a 4-3 scheme with the two ends needing some versatility to stand up and deal with tight ends and running backs on the edge. It was right in Wise's wheelhouse as a very large (6-5, 275 pounds) and very long edge player. He wasn't as effective when they kicked him inside on passing downs — it was more difficult for Wise to use his length in tight quarters — but his first two seasons were a success and the arrow seemed to be pointed up.

But things changed this offseason when the Patriots went back to being a 3-4 team and Wise wasn't an edge player. Instead, he's inside as an end where he plays anywhere from the inside shoulder of the tackle, to the outside.

"I feel comfortable wherever they put me, whether that’s shade, nose 2, 4i, 3i, 5, 6, linebacker, safety ... wherever they want to play me, I can play," Wise said.

In theory, Wise could do fit as a 3-4 end because of his length. In actuality, Wise has struggled to hold up against the blocking, and it likely has to do with his long legs and that he's a little skinny for that spot (should be in the 290-pound range, as Ufomba Kamalu is), as you can see in the video below.

 



Ok, a base defense position does not determine roster spots on this team, especially since the Patriots only play base on about 25 percent of their snaps.

So he still fits in the subpackage, right? Well...

Taking the amoeba pressure package out of the equation and going with a 4-man line, the Patriots would most likely line up with:

DE Shilique Calhoun/Derek Rivers
DT Michael Bennett
DT Adam Butler/Byron Cowart
DE Kyle Van Noy/Dont'a Hightower/Chase Winovich.

Is Wise really going to supplant someone in that group? You could make an argument, instead, that Cowart and Butler basically cancel each other out now and just having Wise's unique frame on the roster could be needed instead of one of them. I could get on board with that, but then why did Wise play so deep in these preseason games while Butler had a vacation?

It's likely going to be a very close decision, and maybe Wise's presence in the room could be the tipping point. There's a lot to be said for that.

"I would say I still have work to do," Wise said. "I’m never going to feel like I’m just settled or just there, but I have room to improve in every aspect."