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Eliot Wolf's pre-draft press conference 4/13

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Ian did a great job of transcribing Wolf's press conference yesterday: TRANSCRIPT: Eliot Wolf Pre-Draft Press Conference 4/13 | PatsFans.com

I want to highlight one thing:
On the fact that in ’24 he said he was implementing a new scouting system and it’s going to take some time, and where he is now in year 3 in implementing this new process:

“Yeah, I mean, I think it wasn’t necessarily a whole new scouting system. Like the grading scale changed a little bit. Again, we’re still looking for big, fast, strong, tough, the same things everybody’s looking for. I think just having another year of working with Coach Vrabel and his staff and Ryan and, we have two first-year area scouts, just getting those guys acclimated. I think that it’s just the time on task and the ability to continue to work together and understand that we’re all on the same page and pulling together in the right direction.”
Even Wolf doesn't think his new scouting system is a big deal.
 
This is interesting, too.
On how involved Mike [Vrabel] has been in the pre-draft meetings:

“Very involved. I mean, business as usual. He’s been in there. I would say he’s been in there with us probably, this round of meetings, probably a little bit more than he was last year, just because I know, you know, there’s the coaching staff — this is me putting words in his mouth— probably more comfortable just where things stand from that standpoint. But he’s been in there. He’s been contributing. He’s watched a ton of the players. I think he tries to watch every player that, we give each position coach, he watches that whole— they call it the coaches list – and so he has an opinion on these guys, and it’s helpful because sometimes there’s players that the scouts like, me included, and he’ll be like, ‘Well, this is the reason that maybe this guy’s not the best fit for us.’ And so, we can again continue to compile all the information together.”

It makes sense that Vrabel is looking at every player and giving a thumbs up or thumbs down.
 
This one, on analytics is interesting.
On the analytics and how those play into what they do, and how he has continued over the years to have the numbers come in:

“So we hired Max Mulitz, who was previously with the Dolphins, and he’s working in conjunction with the personnel department. And he’s been in all of our meetings and he’s been great. Every player has a profile. The thing I like particularly about Max is he’s not so married to the data that he can’t … Like, we’ll retort him and say like, ‘Well, what about this?’ And he has enough common sense to be like, ‘Well, yeah, that makes sense as a reason that the model gives this projection. Let me adjust it a little bit.’ So it’s been pretty cool to kind of integrate that into our, into our process. And really like anything, it helps with outliers. You know, if he’s got a model that says the guy should be a 4th rounder and all of us have him in the 7th round, like to me that is cause for us to go back and ask questions. ‘Why is that the case? Do we need to sit down and watch more film on this guy?’ And to me, that’s the role. It’s to help you get as much information as you can to make the right decisions.”
 
For EDGE, Wolf wants speed:
On what they have on the edge, he talked at the Combine about how that’s a position of need, they’ve signed Draymond Jones, and it feels like there’s some different body types though in this year’s draft class at that position and if they prefer for what they have right now in terms of complementing what they have, or if he feels like they need that smaller, faster guy who might be better on third down or better to have the bigger body:

“I never want a smaller guy. No, faster guy. I said I never want a smaller guy. No, we could complement our room with some speed. I think that’s evident. Dre’Mont [Jones] and Harold [Landry] and Elijah [Ponder] and some of the other guys we have, they all have their skill sets. We would like to get faster. You know, Dre’Mont’s a guy that can play across the line, run games. I mean, he can sneaky beat you with speed, but that’s probably not his bread and butter. And so, you know, that’s an area that we’re looking, again, looking to try to improve the depth on the roster.”
It also sounds like they're planning for Landry to be back.
 
For EDGE, Wolf wants speed:

It also sounds like they're planning for Landry to be back.

This is truly underrated news if Landry is back at full strength. Prior to the injury he had 5.5 sacks in 7 games then he became very limited. Itll just be very tough to tell whether hes past the issue until the season starts
 
Besides Wolf most likely getting little to no input from Mayo and the coaching staff...I also believe the reason for the ****ty '24 draft was because the old grading system was still in place (I also believe the Kraft's had too much sway into who was drafted...along with Mayo).

He didn't pick the groceries in '25 and he won't again in '26.
 
Besides Wolf most likely getting little to no input from Mayo and the coaching staff...I also believe the reason for the ****ty '24 draft was because the old grading system was still in place (I also believe the Kraft's had too much sway into who was drafted...along with Mayo).

He didn't pick the groceries in '25 and he won't again in '26.
I think the grading system helps put more value on some things and less on others, but the clear reason last year's draft was better was the involvement of Vrable and company. Even Wolf says so, which if anyone was going to claim the importance of the grading system, it would be him.
 
I think the grading system helps put more value on some things and less on others, but the clear reason last year's draft was better was the involvement of Vrable and company. Even Wolf says so, which if anyone was going to claim the importance of the grading system, it would be him.

Vrabel brought clarity to the process, and signed off on every decision. Wolf technically has final say, but I don't think there is any doubt that every decision goes through Vrabel for his approval.
 
"Wolf technically has final say..." "every decision goes through Vrabel for his approval".

So you're saying Wolf has final say but wait...no it's Vrabel. I personally don't think Wolf has final say. IMO his job is....

- make sure the scouting / rating system is working
- give his opinion on scouted players
- be the the personnel mouthpiece for the organization
 
As a public speaker he comes across as a milk toast nerd.
Not the guy who should be leading an organizations front office. If you said “boo” he looks like he would run away and cry.
Nepotism hire
 
Tons of interesting analytics by Max here on his website...

Hey - he talks about Simpson's Paradox - that's my sort of guy:
It seems that we have an example of Simpsons Paradox. Being in the Shotgun doesn’t seem to inherently lower a teams chance of converting on 3rd down and may even slightly help it when rushing, however because teams often line up in shotgun with the intention of passing on 3rd and 1 (a strategy with a lower payoff than rushing) Shotgun success rates fall behind Under Center rates.
 
As a public speaker he comes across as a milk toast nerd.
Not the guy who should be leading an organizations front office. If you said “boo” he looks like he would run away and cry.
Nepotism hire
Unlike BB or even Josh....got it
 
So you're saying Wolf has final say but wait...no it's Vrabel. I personally don't think Wolf has final say. IMO his job is....

- make sure the scouting / rating system is working
- give his opinion on scouted players
- be the the personnel mouthpiece for the organization
I think he’s an organized guy and keeps the whole scouting apparatus in perfect order. One shouldn’t discount the need for admin nerds in a functioning organization.
 
So you're saying Wolf has final say but wait...no it's Vrabel. I personally don't think Wolf has final say. IMO his job is....

- make sure the scouting / rating system is working
- give his opinion on scouted players
- be the the personnel mouthpiece for the organization

Wolf has final say, it's in his contract. But in reality that went to Vrabel when they hired him. That's not hard to understand.
 
Wolf has final say, it's in his contract. But in reality that went to Vrabel when they hired him. That's not hard to understand.
I imagine they went to Wolf after they hired Vrabel and said something like, "You have final say. But make sure your final say is the same as Mike's."
 
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