Terrence Wheatley Q&A

Comments from second-round pick Terrence Wheatley, a cornerback from Colorado:

How would you describe your style of play?
“I guess it’s very consistent. I don’t give up a lot of big plays and I try to make as many big plays as possible. I really don’t patent my game off anybody, but I do try to learn from pretty much every corner in the league – all the corners in the league are obviously there for a reason, so I definitely try to learn from everybody. So style of play is kind of a little bit of everything – a little bit physical, a little bit speed, a little bit smarts.”

What were your expectations coming into the draft? Did you expect to be a first-day pick?
“I really didn’t think about it too much. I just wanted to go into it and enjoy the moment with my family and my friends. It was a situation that a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to enjoy. I didn’t want to worry about it too much. Whatever happened, happened. The way the draft works, it’s such a circus on draft day. Everybody has their pre-draft board and mock drafts and all that, but at the end of the day, when it comes time to the draft, everything kind of changes and today was no different. I just wanted somebody to give me a chance and the Patriots gave me that and that to me is awesome.”

What were you doing when you got called?
“When I got called, I was actually walking out of my bedroom. I went to go change. My parents had the air conditioning on and it was a little bit cold, so I went to go grab a coat. That’s when the phone rang and I put the phone down and it showed up as an unknown call. I said ‘that could be important.’ I picked it up and lo and behold it was the Patriots. I had to run downstairs and tell everyone to keep quiet so I could hear. Then I had to run outside to talk on the phone because they were all yelling and screaming at that point. It was very exciting.”

How did you develop your speed, which seems like a big part of your game?
“I was always a track guy when I was a kid. I always wanted to play football as a kid, but my parents felt like I was a little bit too small for that. You know how moms are. Moms don’t want their little babies to get hurt. I’m the oldest, so they didn’t want the oldest to get hurt. I ran track. I always try to work on speed. Speed kills. Especially at this position, it’s very difficult to make plays if you don’t have speed. If you take a false step or anything, your speed has to be able to catch you up and take care of that mistake. I do all sorts of stuff …”

You mentioned no one wants to get hurt. You’ve had more than your share of wrist injuries at this point. Do you feel you are past that?
“It’s not an issue at all. I played with it for a whole year. It’s not a big deal. There is nothing more to say that that. I’ve played a whole year with it and I’ve proven I can play with it, and it’s completely healthy. I’m going to go out there in training camp and see what I can do.”

You made a big name for yourself in the return game. How much do you think your contributions on special teams made you an attractive pick for the Patriots?
“I think it helps a lot. When you come in as a rookie, No. 1, you have to be able to play multiple positions. They don’t want someone who plays just one. When you have multiple things you can do, that definitely adds to your draft value. So I think that helped a lot. It also shows my toughness too. When you look at the number of plays I play on defense, I rarely come out. Then I’m still on every special teams outside of field goal. That does say a lot about you as a football player, not necessarily just an athlete. You have to be a real tough guy to do that, because you’re playing an extra 20-30 snaps every game than everybody else. You have to be in extra shape in everything. I think that definitely helped me a lot in this draft, especially with the Patriots.”

You talk about being a tough guy. You had a lot of tackles the last couple years. Do you like physical style of play, and mixing it up in the run game?
“It’s fun. I love it. Especially, I guess, because everyone perceives me as the little guy, so you come in and give it to the running back every once in a while and kind of show him ‘hey, I’m a little dude, now, but I’m not going to back down.’ I like to mix it up from time to time. Why not? It’s football. It’s a contact sport. I definitely love it.”