PATRIOTS NEWS Official: Eliot Wolf named EVP of Player Personnel

[Bill Lee]

Problem is that a coach is more focused on winning this year, the front office is more focused on the long term condition of the roster. A coach may prioritize a veteran with one good year left over a very young player who hasn’t had much opportunity to prove himself yet but has flashed and there’s reason to believe he will develop. For this year, yes the veteran will be better, but long-term your roster will be shorthanded after that. So it makes sense to leave these decisions with 1 person and then have the coach focus on doing his best to win with who he has - and I’m sure he gets lots of opportunity to give input in their “collaborative environment”.

If the team struggles and it’s clearly due to a talent deficiency, that will be blame laid more on Wolf than Mayo. If you let one guy make the initial decisions but then let the other guy cut it down to 53 then you end up with a lot of finger pointing. “He didn’t get me good players”, “I did but he cut them before they developed” etc.

I don't know about "the front office is more focused on the long term condition of the roster" -- I think they tend to be focused on impressing their peers across the league since they know it's a matter of if rather than when they get fired. Thus we see a lot of picks based on measurables which are easy for the GM to defend, and leave the rest of the stuff such as motivation to play, on-the-field ability, willingness to learn, etc up to the coaching staff to sort out.

Of course there are extremes where GMs pick purely on measurables and pick busts ( ref: Jamarcus Russell type ) and get roasted forever for it, but more often than not they can say we picked the best athlete, coaching staff didn't develop him right, yada yada.

I don't think it's clear when there is a talent deficiency versus a development deficiency since we see lots of GMs who did a bad job get a second bite of the apple. Same for coaches. Everyone has figured out the formulas for putting themselves in the best light.

Unless you are massively successful, there will be tons of finger pointing. Victory has many fathers, defeat has none.

 

[Bill Lee]

Agreed, I have been saying the same for a while now. The rest of the division is going to head toward tougher times after this year, although Buffalo accelerated that to some extent by moving Diggs early.

Jete window closes fast. Their younger talent will need to be paid soon. Signing Ahole hasn't worked out yet, let's see if he can stay on the field or not. He has a huge cap hit coming up, and they still keep people like Allen Lazard on the roster to keep him happy.

EDIT: Being called the Jete's biggest FA bust is quite a thing, to be that you have to unseat Le'Veon Bell...

Allen Lazard in danger of becoming Jets' biggest free agent bust

Lazard, who had 23 receptions for 311 yards, averaged 0.74 yards per route -- second lowest among wide receivers with at least 400 routes in a season over the last five years.

www.espn.com

NE has held much of its cash in reserves, and next year’s free agent class will be stronger than this year’s. Year 2 of a QB is when you want to start throwing some resources behind him. If all goes according to plan they may be able to take the division in 2025 or at least have a healthy chance of a playoff berth, and their overall roster strength will continue to improve throughout Maye’s rookie deal.

While having cash is always nice, the main way to be successful is to draft well and then coach up the players you draft. Time will tell how we do on that.

 

[Bill Lee]

How absolutely degrading must it have been for the minority candidates that were “interviewed” for this position to go through it knowing the decision had already been made. Rooney rule is a joke and when are the minority groups going to speak up and call this stupid rule out for what it is.

IMO, what's more degrading is to have no opportunity to interview at all. The Rooney Rule is a joke, but IMO given where things are having no Rooney Rule is an even bigger joke.

Regardless, the buzz I hear about this hiring cycle is front office talent of all races declined the opportunity to interview for the NE position because they knew Wolf was very likely to get the job.

There's no point in pissing off your current employer by interviewing elsewhere if there isn't a good chance of getting a better job, and most talented people already are employed.

If the Krafts wanted to really see what was available, they needed to clean house first so everyone could see that the job was truly open.

They didn't do this, which was the signal that whomever came in would need to work with the old staff, which is not what good candidates want to do.

And by hiring Mayo first it was clear the new GM wasn't going to be able to pick their coach.

Basically the Krafts wanted to stay in their comfort zone rather than blow it all up hoping to find better leaders.

Time will tell if they got it right or not, but it does feel like they are playing it safe.

To me it feels likely they will be blowing it all up within a two year window, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

I don't know about "the front office is more focused on the long term condition of the roster" -- I think they tend to be focused on impressing their peers across the league since they know it's a matter of if rather than when they get fired. Thus we see a lot of picks based on measurables which are easy for the GM to defend, and leave the rest of the stuff such as motivation to play, on-the-field ability, willingness to learn, etc up to the coaching staff to sort out.

Of course there are extremes where GMs pick purely on measurables and pick busts ( ref: Jamarcus Russell type ) and get roasted forever for it, but more often than not they can say we picked the best athlete, coaching staff didn't develop him right, yada yada.

I don't think it's clear when there is a talent deficiency versus a development deficiency since we see lots of GMs who did a bad job get a second bite of the apple. Same for coaches. Everyone has figured out the formulas for putting themselves in the best light.

Unless you are massively successful, there will be tons of finger pointing. Victory has many fathers, defeat has none.

For all his faults as a GM, Bill was good at looking ahead and managing the long-term condition of the roster.

 

[Bill Lee]

For all his faults as a GM, Bill was good at looking ahead and managing the long-term condition of the roster.

For a while he excelled at picking up aging vets. The 2001 roster had guys like Roman Pfifer, Anthony Pleasant, Bobby Hamilton and Otis Smith all aged 30 or older and Antowain Smith an older running back at 29. Seemed he lost that by the end of the dynasty era.

 

[mgteich]

For a while he excelled at picking up aging vets. The 2001 roster had guys like Roman Pfifer, Anthony Pleasant, Bobby Hamilton and Otis Smith all aged 30 or older and Antowain Smith an older running back at 29. Seemed he lost that by the end of the dynasty era.

In recent years we have picked up Phillips, Peppers, and Tavai. All have been significant contributors.

 

[captain stone]

If the team struggles and it’s clearly due to a talent deficiency, that will be blame laid more on Wolf than Mayo. If you let one guy make the initial decisions but then let the other guy cut it down to 53 then you end up with a lot of finger pointing. “He didn’t get me good players”, “I did but he cut them before they developed” etc.

The Personnel Director should have final say on draft weekend, with input from the amateur & pro scouting departments, as well as from the HC & his staff, because he's the guy making the call... The HC should have final say on who stays and who goes, with input naturally from Personnel, because he's the guy telling them they're going...

 

[Real fan 02]

You don't get the whole GM thing.

Kraft hired the Head Coach. That is a fact.

GMs hire coaches also a fact.

Hmm.

 

[Triumph]

Hmm.

Robyn Glaser was transferred from the Kraft Group to the Patriots by GM Kraft.

 

[Real fan 02]

Robyn Glaser was transferred from the Kraft Group to the Patriots by GM Kraft.

So she's no longer the chief lawyer?

 

[IcyPatriot]

Why would it take a few years? Explain that to me.

The post already explains that ... why explain it again?
Assistant coaches ... scouts .. the entire operation ...
right down to the nerds and how many does the team need will be evaluated.
As it should and needs to be. At one time we had only Ernie Adams ... who was damn good for sure.

From 2023 ...

 

[Triumph]

So she's no longer the chief lawyer?

Kraft Group Promotes Veteran Exec as Patriots Enter New Era

Kraft Group senior executive Robyn Glaser will have a new role with the organization and the New England Patriots.

www.sportico.com

 

[Real fan 02]

Kraft Group Promotes Veteran Exec as Patriots Enter New Era

Kraft Group senior executive Robyn Glaser will have a new role with the organization and the New England Patriots.

www.sportico.com

 

[Triumph]

Reports to the Patriots GM and Assistant GM.

 

[Love The Drake]

For a while he excelled at picking up aging vets. The 2001 roster had guys like Roman Pfifer, Anthony Pleasant, Bobby Hamilton and Otis Smith all aged 30 or older and Antowain Smith an older running back at 29. Seemed he lost that by the end of the dynasty era.

Throw in Terrell Buckley, Tec Washington, Keith Traylor, Junior Seau, Chad brown, Andre Carter.

 

[mike_usagisan]

For a while he excelled at picking up aging vets. The 2001 roster had guys like Roman Pfifer, Anthony Pleasant, Bobby Hamilton and Otis Smith all aged 30 or older and Antowain Smith an older running back at 29. Seemed he lost that by the end of the dynasty era.

Ezekiel Elliott wasn't that old, but he was a nice pickup last year.

 

[raduray]

Andrew Brandt anecdote:

 

[Brewskies]

NFL already cleared us, plus what kind of lawsuit can they have when our hand picked successor HC is Black.

Lawsuits are all the time. I am not a lawyer. You made a good point about Mayo as HC.

 

[Love The Drake]

Andrew Brandt anecdote:

Please allow him to make every WR selection from here on.

 

[Pape]

How many here ... were you the owner of the Patriots ...
give total control to any front office employee?
It is not just about wins and losses ... owners also need to please sponsors.

Not discussed much here ... the sponsors definitely put pressure on the Krafts the last 3 or so years.

I do not see this as a problem like some here ...
Kraft is giving the front office and coach freedom to do their job.
However now the leash is shorter ... like I said ... how many here would own differently?

The old way of doing things is mostly over in the league ... the dollars/sponsors and team value outweigh all else.
It's a business ... right down to players on the practice squad ... would you the owner be any different?
Kraft is not picking the groceries or coaching the team ... he is just making sure all that they answer to him and Jonathan.

As they should ...

As an owner? Oof... I gotta say I would be involved... not the David tepper I want this I want that type role... that is just too erratic... need to be able to set an agenda and stick to it... If you are familiar with long term capital improvements type budgeting, that might make some sense...

I wouldn't be taking the role of GM as my own, a la jerry Jones, but would be involved much more so than Kraft has been in the past... Or at least that's how I perceived Krafts role over the last two decades... Very hands off, almost to a fault...

Hard to give up that level of control... Cede all of the actual decision making power, without input, to someone else? Eh... Tough pill to swallow, that one... Gotta have some say about the direction of the team...

I balance that thought out with the realization that you did hire these guys for a reason... So that level of participation would be dependent of the level of success my team had... The better they do, the more comfortable I would be in pulling back some...