On Wednesday, Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf met with the media ahead of the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis, taking questions publicly for the first time since the middle of August.
Since he last spoke, the team underwent a 4-13 season under head coach Jerod Mayo, leading to a coaching change by the organization to Patriots Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Vrabel.
Despite the change at head coach, Wolf retained his post in the front office, leading many in the media to wonder what Wolf’s impact would be on roster building moving forward.
According to Wolf on Wednesday, it’s a whole lot.
“Ultimately, it’s my final say,” said Wolf when asked about decision making as it relates to the roster. “Mike said it yesterday. Mike wouldn’t have taken this job - and you know, this is something we talked about in the interview process - Mike wouldn’t have taken this job if we weren’t comfortable with each other.
“There’s not gonna be ‘Mike’s guys’ or ‘Eliot’s guys,’ they’re gonna be ‘Patriots guys,’ and we’re excited to share the vision, to work together, to improve the roster.”
When Vrabel spoke in Indianapolis on Tuesday, much was made of the 49-year-old not mentioning Wolf by name once after name-checking him throughout his introductory press conference in January. Media and fans alike took that as an inference of Vrabel’s power on roster decisions, after an emphasis on collaboration was seemingly carried over from the Mayo regime based on his comments in January.
But on Wednesday, Wolf made it clear that he’s at the top of the food chain on roster decisions, with a healthy influence from the new head coach and the rest of his newly hired staff.
“There’s not a lot of GMs or, you know, people in my position in this business that are gonna force players on [a] coaching staff,” said Wolf. “Certainly, the best decisions are made together, and, you know, going to continue to work with Mike and Ryan [Cowden] and [John Streicher] and the scouting staff - you know, Richard Miller, everybody - to make those decisions the best we can for the team.”
Wolf’s mention of Cowden is notable, given that many saw his hiring as vice president of player personnel as Vrabel’s way of “getting his guy” in the front office. With Vrabel and Cowden previously working together in Tennessee, it felt natural that the new head coach would want a like-minded thinker at 1 Patriot Place as he worked to rebuild the Patriots’ roster.
But if titles mean anything, Wolf is technically Cowden’s superior within the current front office structure. And according to Wolf, he and his subordinate have a long history in their own right.
“I’ve known Ryan for like 20 years,” said Wolf. “So he came up in Carolina, and I came up in Green Bay. And, for whatever reason, a lot of the Packers scouts and the Panthers scouts kind of shared some of the same views. And I don’t know if the grading scale was exactly the same, but it’s something he’s worked in before.
“I’ve always appreciated Ryan because he has a distinct opinion. Like, he’s not going to waffle on anything. Like, ‘This is what it is.’ And that’s been really rewarding to work with him so far. It’s been good.”
The “grading scale” mentioned in passing by Wolf is something team chairman and CEO Robert Kraft mentioned during his end-of-season press conference as one of the main reasons the organization was retaining Wolf in his role. With Cowden having related experience working within this seemingly coveted system, there’s a chance his addition to the front office was something Wolf and Vrabel agreed on early in their working relationship.
While there is possible agreement on Cowden’s employment, the handling of the team’s league-leading $123 million in cap space isn’t as clear.
When asked on Tuesday how he wanted the front office to approach free agency, Vrabel said, “Hopefully aggressive. I mean, we want to be aggressive. We want to target players that we feel like are going to help us. They’re going to be outstanding players, they’re going to be outstanding additions to the locker room and the community. And if that all fits, and the compensation fits - but I’m confident that we’ll be aggressive.”
When Wolf was asked a similar question on Wednesday about his willingness to extend himself to sign a high priced free agent, he struck a slightly different chord.
“I mean, we’re not gonna be frivolous,” said Wolf. “We’re gonna do what we think is best. And we’re gonna, you know, we’re gonna - again, we have to do what’s necessary. So last year, we didn’t do enough of what was necessary. This year, we have to do what’s necessary to improve the team.”
There’s an air of aggression in Wolf’s comments, but it’s clear that the 42-year-old is ready to put the clamps on spending if he deems necessary.
And if Wolf really does have the ultimate “final say,” that should scare Patriots fans hoping for an influx in talent for 2025, especially with an NFLPA report card released Wednesday having the organization ranked 31st out of 32 teams.
For a team that almost certainly has to overpay to entice top free agents to sign in New England, we’ll see which of these “collaborators’” philosophies ultimately wins out.