Why was this year's draft so much better than last's?

[One-If-By-Sea]

Folks just can't allow that Wolf is an excellent evaluator of talent.

Much of the success goes to Wolf and to listening to the results of his analysis team.

How do you know Wolf is an excellent evaluator of talent?

Much of what success? Last year's draft failure or last year's UDFA signings failure? When Wolf was in charge everything, except drafting Maye, was a failure.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I'll acknowledge that Wolf is a fine evaluator

I don't understand on what basis anyone knows Wolf is a fine evaluator. How did you know Wolf was a fine evaluator?

 

[mike_usagisan]

I don't understand on what basis anyone knows Wolf is a fine evaluator. How did you know Wolf was a fine evaluator?

Alright, I guess that’s fair. He could be a fine evaluator if some of these picks start working out.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Alright, I guess that’s fair. He could be a fine evaluator if some of these picks start working out.

We don't even know he was the one doing the 2025 evaluating. It could have been Cowden.

When Wolf was in charge of the 2024 draft and signing UDFAs, everything went sideways.

 

[Grogan14]

How do you know Wolf is an excellent evaluator of talent?

Much of what success? Last year's draft failure or last year's UDFA signings failure? When Wolf was in charge everything, except drafting Maye, was a failure.

Wolf is an excellent evaluator of talent?

Polk
Wallace
Andrews
Baker
Robinson
Sow

Need I say more?

 

[Hugepatsfan]

More and more each day it seems like BB might have been going totally senile during his last few years here so while Wolf was on the staff, he wasn't the primary decision maker and it's hard to know exactly what he was or wasn't responsible for. Last year was a disaster, but it was such an abrupt end to the BB era and they hired someone who obviously proved incompetent as coach. They essentially just "ran it back" amidst all the dysfunction, and were left to try and pick up the pieces on what had become a train wreck roster.

It seems like their total operation is back on a good course this year, and Wolf is a part of that. i just don't know how so. I'm willing to stave writing him off for the past few years because it really wasn't a great situation, but IDK how anyone could feel confident in painting him favorably either. He's been involved with mostly terrible results, whether you pin the "blame" on him or not and now he's working with other new people. What evidence would anyone have to give him any credit?

 

[Love The Drake]

More and more each day it seems like BB might have been going totally senile during his last few years here so while Wolf was on the staff, he wasn't the primary decision maker and it's hard to know exactly what he was or wasn't responsible for. Last year was a disaster, but it was such an abrupt end to the BB era and they hired someone who obviously proved incompetent as coach. They essentially just "ran it back" amidst all the dysfunction, and were left to try and pick up the pieces on what had become a train wreck roster.

It seems like their total operation is back on a good course this year, and Wolf is a part of that. i just don't know how so. I'm willing to stave writing him off for the past few years because it really wasn't a great situation, but IDK how anyone could feel confident in painting him favorably either. He's been involved with mostly terrible results, whether you pin the "blame" on him or not and now he's working with other new people. What evidence would anyone have to give him any credit?

I feel Bill the GM didn’t adapt, didn’t spend equal time being a GM as being a coach, which is normal.

 

[mgteich]

Wolf is an excellent evaluator of talent?

Polk
Wallace
Andrews
Baker
Robinson
Sow

Need I say more?

You needn't say more.

 

[Dec54]

I don't know about that. This years draft seems light years ahead of last. But you are right in that grading drafts right after is a very inexact science.

As far as some of last year's draft picks suddenly redeeming themselves, I would not count on it. I assume that a lot of them will be cut to make room for Vrabel's guys.

Its looking that way Fred

 

[Dec54]

This board was ecstatic about the Baker pick.

Well that was based on past record. What turned out to be an awful season for Baker and Polk was not predicted, nor could have been. "Hindsight is a wonderful thing"

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Well that was based on past record. What turned out to be an awful season for Baker and Polk was not predicted, nor could have been. "Hindsight is a wonderful thing"

Some people predicted Baker's struggles based on his slow speed, lack of separation in college, and known poor attitude. The same people are excited about K Williams due to his route running, release package, separation numbers, and great attitude. None of this is hindsight.

 

[Hawaiipatsfan2]

Are we the jet's now ... winning the off season

Huh. When did the jets ever “win the offseason”?!

They routinely suck at that too. Just look at the grades and comments on one of their forms.l about this draft class.

I’d say a team like the Chargers are a team the routinely “wins” the offseason, or recently the Dolphins. Both still suck come end of the season as well.

 

[PP2]

I feel Bill the GM didn’t adapt, didn’t spend equal time being a GM as being a coach, which is normal.

IMO, nothing nefarious really happened. The game just passed BB by, as it does with every football great, from Lombardi, Landry, Brown, to Walsh.

At some point it just started being one self-inflicted wound after another, and the biggest one, the disastrous appointing of Patricia as an OC with zero experience was, I think, the final nail in the coffin. It demonstrated that he wasn't open to innovation or relinquishing to someone outside his tree who had a better grip on how the game was evolving.

 

[Thelonious]

It's all speculation at this point, of course, but given the weakness of the draft, the fact that the team did a competent job of balancing matching picks to needs with paying reasonable attention to the benefits of "picking [one of?] the best player available," and managing to give due consideration to issues of character without sacrificing on sheer football skills, I think an A- is a reasonable grade at this point; and last year's draft, aside from the obvious choice of Drake May with the first-round pick, certainly grades out significantly lower. The Felgers and Mazz's of the world have to ***** about it, of course, because that is the sort of clickbait in which those angry weirdos compulsively trade, but when every take is unreflectively negative, no actual analysis is really on offer.

One or two of the choices will not likely work out, of course, but that's the nature of the beast. The draft is always a crap shoot, or even more indecipherable than craps, because even after you roll the dice, you still don't really know how you're doing.

 

[moosekill]

It is easy to get better players when your entire team sucks. Last year we found out what a team that sucks is really like. Bad coaching bad players etc. Hopefully the players we have on the team now will move us forward,BUT we are reviewing the draft based upon what the “experts” say, not how good the players end up being. Probably should wait until they actually get on the field before we pat ourselves on the back too much.

 

[Triumph]

I don't understand on what basis anyone knows Wolf is a fine evaluator. How did you know Wolf was a fine evaluator?

Williams is the latest NE drafted WR headed for stardom.

From Washington State. Polk came from U of Washington. So, that tells me that Wolf was very much involved with the Williams pick.

 

[KCSVEN]

There's some revisionist history here.

JaLynn Polk had a terrible rookie year, but saying he "had bust written all over him the minute he was drafted" is ridiculous. It's fair to say he was over-drafted at 37, and fair to say there were concerns about his ability to separate. But Jeremiah had him at 58, Brugler at 74 (above Xavier Legette).

Analytically guys with his incredibly poor YAC and separation rates in college generally fail at the NFL level, so it's not wrong to say he had bust written all over him.
When only 50 players in each draft, on average, become good starting NFL players and he's ranked by everyone outside 50, that just adds to his bust potential.

It's not that he was 100% going to be a bust but he has all the advanced analytical data of a bust. A small % can overcome that and do but yeah, he had bust written all over him and not sure how anyone can say otherwise based on is advanced analytics?

The guy was 194th ranked in YAC in college. Not surprisingly in the NFL, he has been ranked 128th in YAC/R, the lowest among wide receivers with at least 10 targets.

I'd love to see what data suggested he would not be a bust?

The same draft analysts and NFL teams that rated Bryce Young the #1 overall pick when analytics said he had incredibly high bust potential? Yeah, That's not data.

Ladd had great separation rates, which is why I loved him as a pick last year. Separation rate vs man/press coverage is the #1 data point for college Wide Receivers in terms of translating to NFL success.

 

[Pape]

I am not so sure that Kraft was not in on the draft picks last year. It is pretty clear from his statements beforehand, that he was going to pick Drake Maye. So that worked which is to be expected with pick number 3, but how about the other rounds? Remember that it was Kraft who said that the drafts were going to be more collaborative, which I take to mean that he would be involved. Note that this is pure speculation on my part, it is just that I can still feel the burn from the old Bob Kraft / Bobby Grier days.

have you seen Bob Kraft lately? Bobs not doing the work.. he might read some scouting reports, but the rest of it? nah, not buying it at this point...

he's become the elder statesman now... you want to say Jonathan Kraft had input into last years draft, that would be plausible...

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Someone mentioned in another thread that it was great to see most of our picks come from name brand schools

 

[State]

But last year Wolf was hamstrung by Belichick's antiquated scouting system.

Bingo! That took too long to find.13th posting.