At the conclusion of the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf met with the assembled media at Gillette Stadium to answer questions about the first two days of picks for New England.
While Wolf was high on all three players selected on Friday, going as far as saying each will have a chance to compete for a starting job this fall, it was insight Wolf gave us into the inner workings of the newly-formed New England Patriot power structure under head coach Mike Vrabel that I found most intriguing.
“Whether this was a trade or a pick you made, or a trade or a pick that didn't happen, what was the hardest decision tonight?” asked Andrew Callahan of The Boston Herald.
After making a joke about decisions on food options for the evening that fell flat, Wolf gave us the goods.
“In all honesty, there were some really good conversations before our first pick [on Friday] with Coach Vrabel, Ryan [Cowden], Cam, Matt [Groh] and Alonzo [Highsmith]. There was a little bit of a debate about who we were going to pick, and ultimately, one of the players we were talking about got drafted, so it didn't end up mattering.
“But I think it was a really good step in the right direction just for us working together in our relationship as co-workers because we have to have productive disagreements for this to work. We can't just agree on everything; we can't just acquiesce to each other on something, so I think it was really productive from that standpoint.”
Wolf wouldn’t reveal the name of the player up for debate, but knowing that he was selected before running back TreVeyon Henderson at No. 38 does narrow the field:
No. 33 - Carson Schwesinger, LB (UCLA)
No. 34 - Jayden Higgins, WR (Iowa State)
No. 35 - Nick Emmanwori, S (South Carolina)
No. 36 - Quinshon Judkins, RB (Ohio State)
No. 37 - Jonah Savaiinaea, OG (Arizona)
With the team fully focusing on offense during day two, and seeing that their first two picks of the day were a running back and a wide receiver, I think this boils down to a discussion on Higgins vs. Judkins vs. Henderson.
Who wanted who? Who was going to have the last say? Who within the room was on whose side? Was it Vrabel and Cowden versus Wolf and the rest of the old guard? Who was ultimately going to win?
We don’t have any of those answers.
What we do have from Wolf’s answer is a window into how the ecosystem of a Vrabel-led front office runs.
Shortly after Vrabel’s introductory press conference in January, it was reported that Cowden was going to join him in New England. With the two having previously worked together in Tennessee, this was largely seen as Vrabel installing “his guy” to help him with team building. He was ultimately given the title of vice president of player personnel, one level below Wolf.
With team chairman and CEO Robert Kraft saying in his end-of-season press conference that whoever he hired as his next head coach was going to have to be comfortable working “together” with Wolf, this was largely seen as Kraft having “his guy” embedded within the power structure of whatever the next iteration of New England was going to be.
Regardless of Wolf or Cowden’s standing within the organization, reporting has suggested that Vrabel is ultimately the captain of the ship, and what he says is ultimately what the organization is going to do.
Wolf’s comments on Friday suggest that both he and others within the front office have more of a voice on decisions than the reporting has suggested, and that healthy debates surrounding the types of players this team should be bringing aboard are welcomed at the decision desk.
His comments also suggest that Wolf is cognizant of work that still needs to be done between him and Vrabel as they continue to try to fulfill Kraft’s edict from January of his new coach working together with his hand-picked EVP of player personnel.
Day three of the 2025 NFL Draft resumes on Saturday, with rounds four, five, six and seven take place back-to-back-to-back-to-back starting at 12:00 p.m. ET.
At the time of publishing, here are the remaining picks for New England in this year’s draft:
- No. 106 (round four)
- No. 144 (round five)
- No. 146 (round five)
- No. 171 (round five)
- No. 220 (round seven)
- No. 238 (round seven)
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on the Patriots offseason.