What DE Deatrich Wise brings to the Washington Commanders

Examining what the Commanders are getting in DE Deatrich Wise

The Washington Commanders signed defensive end Deatrich Wise to a one-year contract last week. Wise follows the pattern of free agents the Commanders have brought in under Adam Peters and Dan Quinn. He’s an experienced veteran, having played eight seasons in the NFL and has been part of winning teams, having spent all eight seasons in New England, where he won two Super Bowls with the Patriots. Wise isn’t a top tier free agent acquisition, but he could play a part in the defensive line rotation. So what does Wise bring to the Commanders? Let’s take a closer look.

The first thing that stands out about Wise is his size. Wise is listed at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds. That’s quite heavy for a typical edge defender. I think a lot of people saw that size and thought he was a player signed to reinforce the run defense, which the Commanders struggled with last season. But watching Wise, that’s not really his game. He was more of a pass rush specialist in New England, typically playing in obvious passing situations.

Wise isn’t a prolific sack artist by any means. He averages 4.25 sacks per season over his career, but that isn’t drastically different from Dante Fowler when he signed in Washington last year. At that point, Fowler averaged 5.6 sacks per season over his career. Fowler had a breakout year last season for Washington and has now re-signed with the Cowboys, so the Commanders will be hoping that they can replicate the success they had with Fowler again this year with Wise.

On the field, Wise is quite different in play style compared to Fowler. Wise doesn’t have the same burst and get off that Fowler had. Instead, he wins with his length and hand fighting techniques. He has nearly 36-inch arms, which is far longer than most NFL tackles. In fact, of the tackles currently scheduled to start this season, only one right tackle and four left tackles can match or better his arm length. I don’t think Wise uses his length enough from what I’ve seen of him, but when he does it can be a real handful.

Here we can see Wise working against 49ers left tackle Trent Williams, one of the best and most athletic left tackles in the entire NFL. Wise starts with quite a tight alignment, so works wide off the snap. He then reaches out with his inside hand and lands it on Trent Williams’ chest. You can see the issue this causes for Williams. As Wise locks out his elbow to ensure his arm is at full extension, Williams struggles to reach him. He can’t get his hands on Wise’s chest and can only just reach his shoulder. Wise uses that leverage to drive Williams back and try to turn the corner, but Williams does just enough to hold him off and allow the quarterback to scramble away from him.

I’d expect the Commanders coaches to try and get Wise to use that length a little more frequently because it’s such a huge advantage for him. I suspect they will enable him to work inside and rush against interior lineman too, which is something he didn’t do that often in New England despite his extra size. His length will stand out even more on the inside, so look out for that this season.

Wise does have a good array of pass rush moves available to him, and he knows how to chain them together to play off of each other.

On this play, Wise shows a nice cross chop move to help attack the Bears left tackle. Wise starts his rush directly up the field, forcing the tackle to come out to cut him off. As the tackle reaches out for him with his hands, Wise uses a cross chop. He uses his inside arm to chop down across the body of the tackle, clearing the outside hand of the tackle in the process. With that outside hand knocked down, Wise has a path to the edge. He turns the corner and uses his outside hand to keep the tackle from resetting his hands. This enables Wise to start to close in on the quarterback, who feels the incoming pressure and steps up in the pocket before scrambling away.

That cross chop move appears to be a favorite of Wise, but he doesn’t use it the same way every time.