Defensive lineman Deatrich Wise spent his first four seasons as a regular in the Patriots lineup before hitting free agency earlier this year and his time on the open market wound up sending him back to New England.
Wise signed a four-year deal to stay in New England and said on Thursday that the atmosphere and culture of the team proved to be too enticing to pass up. Wise’s feelings were shared by other teammates like Lawrence Guy, David Andrews, and James White as well as a slew of free agent additions to the roster.
Wise said that the players who were around for the 7-9 season in 2020 learned things they didn’t learn when the Patriots were riding high and that the entire roster shares the same goal regardless of how they came to the team.
“The guys in the locker room are hungry,” Wise said, via NESN.com. “Whether they’re rookies, whether they didn’t play last year, whether they were on a different team, everybody’s coming here for one goal, and that’s to win. That’s what I really appreciate about all the guys coming back -- we all want to win. And if we’re not winning, we’re learning. Last year was a big learning process. We learned from it. Now, the main mindset is to win.”
There has been a lot of winning in New England over the last two decades. Last season put a halt to that and the 2021 campaign will show if that was an aberration or if the tide has truly turned for the Patriots.