PATRIOTS NEWS Breer: Eliot Wolf will stay. Relationship between Wolf and Vrabel worked from the start

[Huckleberry1]

Who knows the truth.

Could definitely see a scenario where Wolf saw Mayo yanked after a year and realized if he didn't want to be fired and find himself auditioning for a job with the Jets that he started from an absolutely deferential standpoint to whatever Vrabel wanted.

Or he was of this mindset of working with the coach all along and got guys that Mayo liked who have yet to or may never pan out.

I think Wolf sees his role as helping get the coach the players he wants, which works if the coach knows what he is doing and what he wants, neither of which applied to Mayo.

 

[Rob0729]

Several things:

- Wolf isn't going anywhere. He is officially designated as the final decision maker with the Patriots. That means no team can even talk to him about a job without expressed permission by the Patriots. The Pats are most likely going to want compensation to allow him to move on.
- I think people are making a lot of assumptions about who is making the final decisions without really knowing the dynamics of the organization these days.
- I think any good organization probably has no one decision maker on draft picks and free agents. I am guessing that there is buy in by a number of people on every move and I think it probably includes Wolf, Vrabel, and Cowden on virtually every move. Usually when it is one or even two guys, you get bad picks. You want to look at these players by multiple angles to get the best decision including talent, coachabilities, advanced analytics, etc. That is probably why Belichick struck out so much in later years because he was only looking at from a coach's perspective.
- I still think that much of what we have to judge on Wolf in the past is not a true assessment of what his capabilities are. I have stated before that he was working in Belichick's organization with the tools Belichick provided him and grading structure Belichick wanted. The Mayo year was just directionless. We need to judge him going forward, not the past. Since he became GM post draft in 2024, he has started to build his system and his structure. Vrabel has had the juice to push that structure into overdrive.

 

[lancerman]

Several things:

- Wolf isn't going anywhere. He is officially designated as the final decision maker with the Patriots. That means no team can even talk to him about a job without expressed permission by the Patriots. The Pats are most likely going to want compensation to allow him to move on.
- I think people are making a lot of assumptions about who is making the final decisions without really knowing the dynamics of the organization these days.
- I think any good organization probably has no one decision maker on draft picks and free agents. I am guessing that there is buy in by a number of people on every move and I think it probably includes Wolf, Vrabel, and Cowden on virtually every move. Usually when it is one or even two guys, you get bad picks. You want to look at these players by multiple angles to get the best decision including talent, coachabilities, advanced analytics, etc. That is probably why Belichick struck out so much in later years because he was only looking at from a coach's perspective.
- I still think that much of what we have to judge on Wolf in the past is not a true assessment of what his capabilities are. I have stated before that he was working in Belichick's organization with the tools Belichick provided him and grading structure Belichick wanted. The Mayo year was just directionless. We need to judge him going forward, not the past. Since he became GM post draft in 2024, he has started to build his system and his structure. Vrabel has had the juice to push that structure into overdrive.

Let's be real, for the foreseeable future, every good front office move will be credited to Vrabel and every bad one will be blamed on Wolf.

 

[Rob0729]

Let's be real, for the foreseeable future, every good front office move will be credited to Vrabel and every bad one will be blamed on Wolf.

Maybe by the local media and fans, but that doesn't mean it is true.

 

[upstater1]

Wilson is literally the only pick that doesn't come out 'solid' or 'home run' from that draft.

We don't know yet.

Kyle Williams was in the first 60 picks. So far he is not in tune at all with Maye like all the other WRs.

I really think people should go back and look at Treveyon's last 6 or 7 games. It wasn't very good. There were games where he was so indecisive, he flat out stopped. This is why he only got 3 carries in one of the games.

I'm not saying he won't improve but right now, I'd be very concerned.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Let's be real, for the foreseeable future, every good front office move will be credited to Vrabel and every bad one will be blamed on Wolf.

The people who try to blame Belichick's bad drafts on Wolf are trying their little hearts out to revise history and say this wasn't a great draft class, when it clearly was.

 

[n1997y]

Let's be real, for the foreseeable future, every good front office move will be credited to Vrabel and every bad one will be blamed on Wolf.

Let’s be real, as always every good move will be credited to the poster’s current binky that they’re knob polishing, and every bad move will be attributed to whoever the poster has on their **** list and is dedicated to crapping all over.

That’s the perennial situation, just insert appropriate decisions and individuals.

 

[TheRainMaker]

People are a lot higher on Henderson than I am.

I saw a guy who could not find a hole to run through.

Henderson is a big play RB very similar to De'Von Achane. Offensive line was ass and he still went over 1,000 total from scrimmage and with 10 TD's. I do agree that his vision needs improvement as he suffered from Maronyitis at times. However, this is also on McDaniels as he's had a major problem in the past taking smaller RB's and running them like they are LaGarette Blount. He's not a pile driving RB. He needs to get in space where we saw him do major damage.

As a rookie, Rham was so much better. Henderson hit some big plays... but those were really breakdowns you can't rely on .

I've got to disagree on that. Rham was okay, but nothing eye popping in open space like Henderson. Rham would've continued to be a backup had Harris not had injuries derail his career. Harris was always superior to him.

 

[mike_usagisan]

He is officially designated as the final decision maker with the Patriots.

He can be designated as that, but there's no way he is. I think you're more correct down here...

- I think any good organization probably has no one decision maker on draft picks and free agents. I am guessing that there is buy in by a number of people on every move and I think it probably includes Wolf, Vrabel, and Cowden on virtually every move.

I think this is 100% right. I do suspect that Stretch has a part in it as well, and maybe Highsmith.

I think people need to look at Vrabel's personnel team similarly to the way he runs the coaches and players, where he's trying to get buy in from everyone and get the whole organization pulling in the same direction.

 

[Rob0729]

He can be designated as that, but there's no way he is. I think you're more correct down here...

I think this is 100% right. I do suspect that Stretch has a part in it as well, and maybe Highsmith.

I think people need to look at Vrabel's personnel team similarly to the way he runs the coaches and players, where he's trying to get buy in from everyone and get the whole organization pulling in the same direction.

I am talking about the designation because the NFL rule says that teams cannot talk to or try to sign away the person with the final decision maker designation. He is untouchable unless the Pats give permission to talk to him and sign a contract prior to contact. I was stating that in response to people who think he will move onto another team.

 

[mike_usagisan]

I am talking about the designation because the NFL rule says that teams cannot talk to or try to sign away the person with the final decision maker designation. He is untouchable unless the Pats give permission to talk to him and sign a contract prior to contact. I was stating that in response to people who think he will move onto another team.

Sorry, I actually understood and was just using that to segue to the second point.

I will fully admit that throughout the season, I thought Wolf would be on his way out and Cowden installed in his place, but I think your point about it being a team effort is correct. It'd be nice to get some clarity about who does what, but I'm not sure we'll ever get that.

 

[TommyD4207]

Henderson is a big play RB very similar to De'Von Achane.

Great comp.



He had a better rookie year than Achane did, and Achane had a better line in front of him.
But 'he's a bust, and goes down too easy'.



Actual results, not mystical PFF grades, btw.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I am talking about the designation because the NFL rule says that teams cannot talk to or try to sign away the person with the final decision maker designation. He is untouchable unless the Pats give permission to talk to him and sign a contract prior to contact. I was stating that in response to people who think he will move onto another team.

This is why I want them to give Cowden final say. Everyone knows Vrabel has final say, but by shifting the " title" of final say to Cowden it protects them from losing him.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

This is why I want them to give Cowden final say. Everyone knows Vrabel has final say, but by shifting the " title" of final say to Cowden it protects them from losing him.

What if Cowden desires the opportunity to actually have final say though and it isn't just about a phony title? I feel like that's probably the case and eventually he'll leave if he gets the chance to run his own show.

 

[Huckleberry1]

What if Cowden desires the opportunity to actually have final say though and it isn't just about a phony title? I feel like that's probably the case and eventually he'll leave if he gets the chance to run his own show.

If he wants to go his own way there's no point in trying to stop him, Vrabel certainly won't do that. However I would still try to make him the GM and get Wolf to give up the final say stays. Imo keeping this front office together as long as possible is really important to their long term success. Unfortunately they will suffer from brain drain, just as every successful franchise does.

 

[TommyD4207]

If he wants to go his own way there's no point in trying to stop him, Vrabel certainly won't do that. However I would still try to make him the GM and get Wolf to give up the final say stays. Imo keeping this front office together as long as possible is really important to their long term success. Unfortunately they will suffer from brain drain, just as every successful franchise does.

Cowden and Highsmith aren't going anywhere.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Cowden and Highsmith aren't going anywhere.

I certainly hope you are right. He interviewed for the Giants GM job a couple of years ago but they passed on him.

 

[TommyD4207]

I certainly hope you are right. He interviewed for the Giants GM job a couple of years ago but they passed on him.

I am right. The only worry there is Highsmith might want to retire in a couple of years (he's 60 and has plenty of money). The only one who will leave is Wolf if some team is dumb enough to offer him a GM Full-Control.

I've said this (and said this to you, in particular) many, many, many times. Nothing has changed.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Cowden and Highsmith aren't going anywhere.

How about Stretch? He must have aspirations of his own.

 

[Rob0729]

This is why I want them to give Cowden final say. Everyone knows Vrabel has final say, but by shifting the " title" of final say to Cowden it protects them from losing him.

We don’t really know that though. Everyone assumes that. But we don’t know it to be true.

And they are not going to take the decision maker title away from Wolf. There are a number of reasons for that. One big one is that they would have to open the interview process to a number of different people to satisfy the Rooney rule. They can’t just give the title to Cowden. They would have to interview minority candidates.

Also, they are not going to strip Wolf of the title without cause. They won’t do that to Wolf.

And lastly, Vrabel seems fine with way things are. He seems to be happy with his relationship with Wolf. He doesn’t seem to want to replace him.