In Bill We Trust!
That stabilizing mantra got many a Patriot fans through the relatively few lean times in New England over the last two-plus decades. At least until it didn’t.
Once Bill Belichick had established himself as the face, voice and unquestionable leader of the Patriots, his way was THE way. Mostly for better, if occasionally for worse.
But the Foxborough “faithful” weren’t always locked into the way Belichick did business. Way back when in the spring of 2001, Robert Kraft’s Patriots faced a critical draft. The team was coming off a 5-11 last-place season in Belichick’s first year at the helm and held the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft.
Feel kinda familiar, even if that team didn’t need or know it needed a new franchise QB?
It was a key turning point not just in Patriots history but in terms of the history of the game. It was a time before Richard Seymour, a future Hall of Fame defensive lineman arrived with that sixth selection.
Before Drew Bledsoe got hit by Mo Lewis. Before Tom Brady was even close to being a talking point, never mind a GOAT.
It was long before In Bill We Trust built a dynasty.
It was when Belichick was still the failed Browns coach.
A guy with a losing record who some thought lost his mind when he resigned as the HC of the NYJ. A guy who once, regrettably, took fullback Tommy Vardell with No. 9 overall pick in Cleveland. That happened in 1992 not 1942.
There was no reason to truly trust Bill, until there was.
Nearly a quarter century later, New England faces an even bigger decision with an even more critical draft pick.
And now, Eliot Wolf is the one looking to make a name for himself with the No. 3 overall selection. He’s in the critical crosshairs. A crossroads of his career. Make the right decision. Pick the right QB. Pull off the right franchise altering trade. And Wolf may become a made man the way his now-former boss once did.
Fail? Well, in regards to his own career and the football future for the franchise in New England, failure just can’t be an option.
Wolf has said he has final say, the director of scouting who’s the de facto GM. Collaboration be damned. Kraft input aside. This is Wolf’s call.
And it will make or break the short-term future of the Patriots and long-term legacy he leaves.
Just like the 2001 Draft did for Belichick. Laying the foundation for a sooner-than-hoped-or-expected Super Bowl run. Seymour. Matt Light. Two picks. Two red jackets. One call to Canton.
And make no mistake, Wolf has earned his spot and this shot. He grew up tagging along to the Combine and living the Packer Way with his Hall of Fame dad, Green Bay front office legend Ron Wolf.
He’s paid his dues working his way up the front office ladder in Green Bay (yes, nepotism happens all around the NFL, not just in New England!), Cleveland and learning under Belichick with the Patriots.
In his 21 years in the NFL he’s seen a lot. What works.
What doesn’t.
A strong argument can be made that Wolf is the most qualified to do his job of any member of the new or promoted regime in New England.
And yet we all have reasonable and rightful doubts. As we should. As we once did about Belichick, who beginning in 2001 would go on to have a great if forgotten run of draft picks for more than a decade in New England, those many successful Aprils one of the keys to an unprecedented run of success.
Indeed In Bill We Trust had a good run. (Even if “The Dynasty” didn’t make it feel that way.)
Now, now it’s a new era.
Now’s time for us to all say it together, even if we don’t quite mean it yet.
In Eliot We Trust!
Because for the here and now, we simply must.