Forged in Foxboro: episode 1

[One-If-By-Sea]

I’m well aware of last years draft, that was the one where Wolf picked the Patriots franchise quarterback. I’m also aware of this years free agency, which only happened because he didn’t blow their money in the terrible free agent market of 2024, the job they did in free agency this year, and this years draft. And from Vrabel’s interactions with Wolf at the draft this year it’s very clear that he was really happy with the job Wolf did.

Wolf is a good executive secretary, I agree.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Wolf is a good executive secretary, I agree.

Yep, that must be why Vrabel was so happy with him at the end of the draft, his stenography.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Yep, that must be why Vrabel was so happy with him at the end of the draft, his stenography.

That and talking on the phone. Wolf takes notes, instructions, and talks on the phone, but couldn't make a football decision to save his life.

You must have forgotten that when Wolf was in charge he told us that Okorafor was going to be the LT, then Wallace was going to switch to LT, and when both didn't work, Wolf doubled down and had a press conference to tell us the OL was going to be OK. Wolf knows nothing about football.

 

[varjao]

Sounds like there was a big drop off from Henderson to the next RB, even more reason to pick him.

A couple teams reportedly considered Henderson in the first round so highly unlikely he got to 58. In hindsight probably no chance he got to 58.
Denver was considering trading down to the bottom of the first and taking him, they would have moved up.

Only 1 out of 3 2nd round picks make it as starters so taking the highest rated guy regardless of position is generally the best play.

Only question is wr there, but they got Williams after so not sure who else they should have drafted there. Sounds like he was the highest rated guy on their board, then they had a group of 20 in the next tier and would have gone down 21 spots. It was all to mainly pick up the extra 3rd next year from a likely playoff team.

Of course, It will all come down to hitting on Henderson and who else would have been picked. My guess is they draft Williams at 58 so who else in the 3rd?
You need some game breaker type players.

Agree, I'm so tired of seeing this team fail at the 2nd round I just loved the pick. No way this guy is not a huge contributor unless there's career changing injury.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Because the titles vary between teams, the NFL's rule is that you can't "poach" the person with final say over the 53-man roster. [That is why the Texans could pursue Nick Caserio.]

If Vrabel does have final say, then other teams can poach Wolf.

Wolf is on record as having final say, but imo the reality is that he generally defers to Vrabel, but I just finished the first “ Forged” episode and Wolf was much more in the middle of every draft pick than I expected, and he appeared to be the person most in charge of their draft, which really surprised me.

 

[Huckleberry1]

That and talking on the phone. Wolf takes notes, instructions, and talks on the phone, but couldn't make a football decision to save his life.

You must have forgotten that when Wolf was in charge he told us that Okorafor was going to be the LT, then Wallace was going to switch to LT, and when both didn't work, Wolf doubled down and had a press conference to tell us the OL was going to be OK. Wolf knows nothing about football.

My bad, I forgot, you believe Wolf should only get blame, absolutely no credit.

 

[carpetbagger1]

Anyone know how often they’re going to release episodes? Episode 1 was fantastic.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

wow...that was awesome. i could binge watch 4 more episodes of that easy.... probably more.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I was struck by 2 things. The first was how young their scouts are. I expected at least half of them to be grizzled old scouts who had been there for years, instead like most were in their 20’s or early 30’s. The other was that during the draft it didn’t look like they were sitting there debating which player to pick at any given spot, but more like they had targeted certain players at each pick, and the decision was made to take them if they were there, and their guys kept falling to them. Especially the Williams, Woodson, and Farmer picks, which looked the decision was made well before the pick even came up. It could have been edited to make it look that way, but I was still a little surprised by it.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

That was a great watch, thanks for posting the link.
I knew it was coming, but didn't know where/when...
Looked like a pretty decisive group that worked hard beforehand to make those decisions, so not much to do once it came around.
I personally think the draft/USDA was outstanding, but I'm JAG, so what do I REALLY know.

I was right about Ladd last year, he stood out like a sore thumb to me at the combine, but whatever, it's done.
LFG!

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

My bad, I forgot, you believe Wolf should only get blame, absolutely no credit.

I agree it looks as though Wolf had some success following Vrabel's lead, but I disagree with you that Wolf's credit as an executive assistant in 2025 offsets his failures as the acting GM in 2024.

 

[WinstonSmith]

I'm going to watch it tonight. With that title/name I'll be slightly disappointed if Doug Marcaida doesn't have a cameo where he's intently watching tape of the defense and then looks up and proclaims: It will KEAL!

 

[The Gr8est]

I was struck by 2 things. The first was how young their scouts are. I expected at least half of them to be grizzled old scouts who had been there for years, instead like most were in their 20’s or early 30’s. The other was that during the draft it didn’t look like they were sitting there debating which player to pick at any given spot, but more like they had targeted certain players at each pick, and the decision was made to take them if they were there, and their guys kept falling to them. Especially the Williams, Woodson, and Farmer picks, which looked the decision was made well before the pick even came up. It could have been edited to make it look that way, but I was still a little surprised by it.

The Pats were really fortunate that their desired guys were there when they wanted to pick. That isn’t always the case with every draft, but sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Not to diminish their draft because they conducted a master class this year.

They seemed to take a calculated risk by trading down twice and still getting Wilson, and traded up at the start of the DT run to get their guy.

We can only hope they are as successful next year.

 

[Patjew]

Thank you for posting this. I watched it and really enjoyed it, having no idea that it was even a thing. One thing that struck me was, no Jonathan.

 

[The Gr8est]

Thank you for posting this. I watched it and really enjoyed it, having no idea that it was even a thing. One thing that struck me was, no Jonathan.

Was that the case last year?

I don’t think so.

 

[The Gr8est]

I am very sure that Campbell will play LT for this entire year. Whether he stays at the position long term remains to be seen. But for THIS year at least, they will give him every opportunity to prove he can play the position.

Personally, while I LOVE the kid's mental make up, I still have questions about his physical limitations. Just looking at him next to Vrabel's broad shoulders he almost looks deformed his shoulders are so narrow.

On a positive note, I am also aware that physical ability is only part of the equation to being a great NFL player. We got to see the greatest mind over matter example for 20 years here with the Pats, so we all have to keep those "measurement" stats at bay until we see the results on the field. I mean the kid ran a 4.9 forty at 320lbs. To put that into some kind of perspective, that is just ONE tenth of a second slower than Rodney Harrision managed (and me at 210, btw)

Now his wingspread limitations might keep him from being a top 3 LT, but if he "only" ends up being a good solid top 15 guy, a la Light and Solder, it will STILL be a good draft pick, especially given the thin high end talent available in this draft. We DESPERATELY needed a starting LT, and it looks like we got one.

BTW- don't forget that all of these draft picks are just at the START of their careers, and the proof of the draft will be met if most of them are far better football players 3 years from now than they were in college. All that requires is a BURING desire by the individual to excel and always keep striving to be better. It would seem that THAT quality is something Will Campbell has in spades ... I hope.

BTW- I REALLY enjoyed the show and thanks for putting it up, CT

I agree with you on Campbell. His shoulders do look narrow, and my eyes don’t deceive me.

Still he played LT at the highest level in college.

His makeup and contribution to the team culture that Vrabel’s is establishing justify the pick, and the rest of the draft and UDFAs were so good, that there will be minimal gnashing of teeth if he ends up at guard.

 

[Gumby]

70+ minutes.

Thanks for link. Great watch. Draft room seemed real synched & knowing what they wanted.

Don’t know what was left on cutting room floor, but seems so much >professional.

 

[Gumby]

That and talking on the phone. Wolf takes notes, instructions, and talks on the phone, but couldn't make a football decision to save his life.

You must have forgotten that when Wolf was in charge he told us that Okorafor was going to be the LT, then Wallace was going to switch to LT, and when both didn't work, Wolf doubled down and had a press conference to tell us the OL was going to be OK. Wolf knows nothing about football.

There is a slight chance he was being a “company man” and toeing -repeating Mayo’s line / not saying his own convictions.

Or that he was just overwhelmed w Mayo’s incompetence and having to do too much so that he made mistakes or desperation moves. Then he didn’t want to throw the players under the bus before they see the field.

There is so much behind the curtain in any organization. So none of us know for sure. But it seems to me like Vrabel has found a way to synergize different guys to account for Wolf’s weaknesses and fully use his strengths. I think the biggest thing for that was a consistent vision &overarching strategy. Reportedly Wolf strength is talent eval but maybe it is not so much the process control. Maybe the one affected the other last year.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

There is a slight chance he was being a “company man” and toeing -repeating Mayo’s line / not saying his own convictions.

Or that he was just overwhelmed w Mayo’s incompetence and having to do too much so that he made mistakes or desperation moves. Then he didn’t want to throw the players under the bus before they see the field.

There is so much behind the curtain in any organization. So none of us know for sure. But it seems to me like Vrabel has found a way to synergize different guys to account for Wolf’s weaknesses and fully use his strengths. I think the biggest thing for that was a consistent vision &overarching strategy. Reportedly Wolf strength is talent eval but maybe it is not so much the process control. Maybe the one affected the other last year.

I agree that Wolf may have been acting as a "company man". That would also explain why he was retained, not fired, after the abysmal 2024 FA and draft results.

I also agree that "reportedly" Wolf's strength is player evaluation. I repeat "reportedly". Groh and Wolf have been front and center in the draft process for the last 4 or 5 years. The 2025 draft was dramatically different than the last 4 or 5 drafts (the 2023 draft was actually quite good). We have to assume the the 2025 draft was a departure from the previous 4 or 5 drafts due to the talent evaluation introduced by Cowden and/or Streicher (we don't know who was responsible for the dramatic positive shift but assume it was Cowden). We know, due to reporting, that Groh's role shifted to contract legal drafting after Glaser was let go (Groh is a lawyer). And as I noted to @Huckleberry1, it appears as Wolf is quite good at coordinating, taking notes, and talking on the phone which I refer to as executive assistant functions. If we break the football GM role into roles of 1. Executive assistant and 2. Talent evaluator, Wolf is good at #1 and sucks at #2.

In conclusion, I do not value the "executive assistant" GM role, I value the "talent evaluation" GM role. But it appears as though the Pats will keep Wolf as a "collaboration coordinator" and Groh to handle contract legal stuff. That is not a decision I would make, but I understand they are "company men". But after the dramatic positive shift in the player evaluations this year, let's drop the pretense that Wolf's strength is talent evaluation, and get on our knees and pray that Cowden and Streicher are here to stay for a long time.

 

[TomPatriot]

I agree that Wolf may have been acting as a "company man". That would also explain why he was retained, not fired, after the abysmal 2024 FA and draft results.

I also agree that "reportedly" Wolf's strength is player evaluation. I repeat "reportedly". Groh and Wolf have been front and center in the draft process for the last 4 or 5 years. The 2025 draft was dramatically different than the last 4 or 5 drafts (the 2023 draft was actually quite good). We have to assume the the 2025 draft was a departure from the previous 4 or 5 drafts due to the talent evaluation introduced by Cowden and/or Streicher (we don't know who was responsible for the dramatic positive shift but assume it was Cowden). We know, due to reporting, that Groh's role shifted to contract legal drafting after Glaser was let go (Groh is a lawyer). And as I noted to @Huckleberry1, it appears as Wolf is quite good at coordinating, taking notes, and talking on the phone which I refer to as executive assistant functions. If we break the football GM role into roles of 1. Executive assistant and 2. Talent evaluator, Wolf is good at #1 and sucks at #2.

In conclusion, I do not value the "executive assistant" GM role, I value the "talent evaluation" GM role. But it appears as though the Pats will keep Wolf as a "collaboration coordinator" and Groh to handle contract legal stuff. That is not a decision I would make, but I understand they are "company men". But after the dramatic positive shift in the player evaluations this year, let's drop the pretense that Wolf's strength is talent evaluation, and get on our knees and pray that Cowden and Streicher are here to stay for a long time.

Don’t forget the change in the scouting system implemented by Wolf last year, post-draft, for this cycle. That said, happy to see Cowden and Streicher with the Pats.