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

VrabelJr · Tuesday at 8:40 PM

Someday it would be nice to have an explanation for how the front office missed on every pick other than Drake Maye in 2024. Insanely bad draft at an absolutely pivotal moment.

Wozzy · Tuesday at 10:38 PM

Anyone who thinks Vrabel doesn’t have total control is lying to themselves. He had the rug pulled out from under him in Tennessee, his GM couldn’t find a QB or cornerbacks… he also had AJ Brown traded away even though he didn’t want it.

Vrabel's not taking this job without say on personnel.

Wozzy · Tuesday at 10:53 PM

VrabelJr said:
Someday it would be nice to have an explanation for how the front office missed on every pick other than Drake Maye in 2024. Insanely bad draft at an absolutely pivotal moment.

Wolf on his own was a rudderless ship.

Also people suggesting it was Belichick’s draft grading system is laughable. Wolf was drafting players for a west coast offense years prior even though the coaches were still running an Earnhardt Perkins scheme.

How do we know this? Beyond the fact the dysfunction was being reported, what system did Wolf convert to the second Bill was gone? West Coast… the same crap they wanted Bill to run in 2022, even though Bill hated the system and considered it “easy to defend.”

2024 was Wolf entirely on his own, thankfully we’re past that. The real problem will come when some other team wants to interview Cowden for their GM job. NE would be fools to let him out of the building.

n1997y · Tuesday at 11:13 PM

mike_usagisan said:
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."

Or Jonathan went to Wolf and said “Remember, you have final say about draft picks. Also remember my dad and I have final say on your continued employment, and we just hired Mike Vrabel to run this team as head coach. Have I made myself sufficiently clear?”

Hugepatsfan · 2026-04-15T00:01:04-0400

People on this board have a weird obsession with Wolf. People keep making up fake conversations to turn him into some kind of corporate ****. It’s very, very odd.

Hugepatsfan · 2026-04-15T00:10:07-0400

Wozzy said:
Anyone who thinks Vrabel doesn’t have total control is lying to themselves. He had the rug pulled out from under him in Tennessee, his GM couldn’t find a QB or cornerbacks… he also had AJ Brown traded away even though he didn’t want it.

Vrabel's not taking this job without say on personnel.

Vrabel spends his time during the season worried about the next opponent. Up until after the Super Bowl, I’d imagine that he probably spent close to zero time scouting prospects. Close to zero time scouting upcoming free agents. He comes in about a month and a half before free agency and a little under 3 months before the draft pretty much totally blind to the decisions that need to be made. If he’s smart, I imagine he defers a lot to the people in the organization entrusted with devoting a full year to those assessments.

I think the concept of “final say” is overrated here. BB had it for years but it stopped working once he didn’t trust/collaborate with the front office guys (Pioli, Caserio, etc). People make final say out to be one guy loves a prospect the other hates him and vice versa for a different prospect so they arm wrestle over whose guy they take. In reality I’m sure it a much more collaborative process where they build consensus. I don’t think it’s about Vrabel needing final say, I think it’s about trusting the vision and being aligned with how the front office is making decisions. But you still let them make the decisions because they have proper time to evaluate. That’s why you hire good people.

One-If-By-Sea · 2026-04-15T01:59:31-0400

Hugepatsfan said:
People make final say out to be one guy loves a prospect the other hates him and vice versa for a different prospect so they arm wrestle over whose guy they take.

Yes, that is what happens.

Hugepatsfan said:
In reality I’m sure it a much more collaborative process where they build consensus. I don’t think it’s about Vrabel needing final say, I think it’s about trusting the vision and being aligned with how the front office is making decisions. But you still let them make the decisions because they have proper time to evaluate. That’s why you hire good people.

Parcells left because he wanted final say. He wanted to draft certain prospects and Grier wanted to draft different prospects. No idea why you don't think final say is important.

Water Boy · 2026-04-15T06:37:15-0400

mike_usagisan said:
For EDGE, Wolf wants speed:

I wise man once said

"If you want fast players you better draft players that are fast..."

Huckleberry1 · 2026-04-15T06:39:18-0400

mike_usagisan said:
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."

I don't even think they had to. I think that thee way Wolf sees his job is getting the players the coach wants to build the team he wants. With Mayo that was impossible because Mayo didn't have the slightest idea of the kind of team he wanted to put together. With Vrabel it was very clear and very specific. If it was obvious to all of us that Vrabel was now calling the shots Idm sure that it was just as obvious to Wolf, and I think that being part of a team of people putting the roster together made his job much easier.

One-If-By-Sea · 2026-04-15T07:13:53-0400

Huckleberry1 said:
I don't even think they had to. I think that thee way Wolf sees his job is getting the players the coach wants to build the team he wants. With Mayo that was impossible because Mayo didn't have the slightest idea of the kind of team he wanted to put together. With Vrabel it was very clear and very specific. If it was obvious to all of us that Vrabel was now calling the shots Idm sure that it was just as obvious to Wolf, and I think that being part of a team of people putting the roster together made his job much easier.

Yes I am sure the team telling him who to pick made his job easier.

rkarp1 · 2026-04-15T08:09:47-0400

VrabelJr said:
Someday it would be nice to have an explanation for how the front office missed on every pick other than Drake Maye in 2024. Insanely bad draft at an absolutely pivotal moment.

the personnel staff needs a coaches vision on the team that the coach wants.
in 2024, the coach was not able to share a vision, because he did not have one.
the personnel staff is only as good as the vision.
from what I can see, both Vrabel and his staff are able to properly articulate the schemes they will run, and the type of players they will want. after that, Vrabel coaches the team, and the personnel staff takes over. they then collaborate after the season, to review, dissect and and make plans...
Wolf is far, far away from a coffee runner. he is running the personnel department

Clonamery · 2026-04-15T08:22:25-0400

rkarp1 said:
the personnel staff needs a coaches vision on the team that the coach wants.
in 2024, the coach was not able to share a vision, because he did not have one.
the personnel staff is only as good as the vision.
from what I can see, both Vrabel and his staff are able to properly articulate the schemes they will run, and the type of players they will want. after that, Vrabel coaches the team, and the personnel staff takes over. they then collaborate after the season, to review, dissect and and make plans...
Wolf is far, far away from a coffee runner. he is running the personnel department

So he's an HR suit (well, half-zip sweater).

mike_usagisan · 2026-04-15T08:37:16-0400

rkarp1 said:
the personnel staff needs a coaches vision on the team that the coach wants.
in 2024, the coach was not able to share a vision, because he did not have one.
the personnel staff is only as good as the vision.
from what I can see, both Vrabel and his staff are able to properly articulate the schemes they will run, and the type of players they will want. after that, Vrabel coaches the team, and the personnel staff takes over. they then collaborate after the season, to review, dissect and and make plans...
Wolf is far, far away from a coffee runner. he is running the personnel department

I don't think lack of a coach's vision led to picking up two WRs who can't play WR in any system, a guard who they thought could play tackle but seems unlikely to be able to play either tackle or guard, etc. That said, I do think it shows how vital the position coaches are in the pre-draft process of assessing how well players can even play those positions at the next level. Scouts can only take you so far.

Wozzy · 2026-04-15T08:51:58-0400

Hugepatsfan said:
Vrabel spends his time during the season worried about the next opponent. Up until after the Super Bowl, I’d imagine that he probably spent close to zero time scouting prospects. Close to zero time scouting upcoming free agents. He comes in about a month and a half before free agency and a little under 3 months before the draft pretty much totally blind to the decisions that need to be made. If he’s smart, I imagine he defers a lot to the people in the organization entrusted with devoting a full year to those assessments.

I think the concept of “final say” is overrated here. BB had it for years but it stopped working once he didn’t trust/collaborate with the front office guys (Pioli, Caserio, etc). People make final say out to be one guy loves a prospect the other hates him and vice versa for a different prospect so they arm wrestle over whose guy they take. In reality I’m sure it a much more collaborative process where they build consensus. I don’t think it’s about Vrabel needing final say, I think it’s about trusting the vision and being aligned with how the front office is making decisions. But you still let them make the decisions because they have proper time to evaluate. That’s why you hire good people.

Cowden came with him, he is Vrabel’s personnel guy.

“Final say” means when Vrabel says he doesn’t want AJ Brown traded, his GM doesn’t trade him away anyway and we get to see Mikes look of exasperation on the live draft broadcast.

Also Mike was wresting with Max Iheanachor at the Arizona State pro day… pretty sure he’s still working.

Wozzy · 2026-04-15T08:55:29-0400

mike_usagisan said:
I don't think lack of a coach's vision led to picking up two WRs who can't play WR in any system, a guard who they thought could play tackle but seems unlikely to be able to play either tackle or guard, etc. That said, I do think it shows how vital the position coaches are in the pre-draft process of assessing how well players can even play those positions at the next level. Scouts can only take you so far.

It didn’t.

Besides, they knew since 2022 or prior they wanted to switch to a West Coast offense, the only thing standing in the way was Bill. Bill was gone, he had nothing to do with it.

There’s no good time to acquire bad players, outside of Drake Maye that’s all they found in free agency and the draft. Without the football experts explaining who the good players are I don’t think Elliot knows. Maybe he’s good at contracts and managing the money.

UrbanCowboy · 2026-04-15T08:58:46-0400

Hugepatsfan said:
Vrabel spends his time during the season worried about the next opponent. Up until after the Super Bowl, I’d imagine that he probably spent close to zero time scouting prospects. Close to zero time scouting upcoming free agents. He comes in about a month and a half before free agency and a little under 3 months before the draft pretty much totally blind to the decisions that need to be made. If he’s smart, I imagine he defers a lot to the people in the organization entrusted with devoting a full year to those assessments.

I think the concept of “final say” is overrated here. BB had it for years but it stopped working once he didn’t trust/collaborate with the front office guys (Pioli, Caserio, etc). People make final say out to be one guy loves a prospect the other hates him and vice versa for a different prospect so they arm wrestle over whose guy they take. In reality I’m sure it a much more collaborative process where they build consensus. I don’t think it’s about Vrabel needing final say, I think it’s about trusting the vision and being aligned with how the front office is making decisions. But you still let them make the decisions because they have proper time to evaluate. That’s why you hire good people.

Agree. Staff sets the table for vrabes with recommendations, they discuss, and he has the "right" to over-rule, but likely uses that power carefully.

rkarp1 · 2026-04-15T09:19:55-0400

Clonamery said:
So he's an HR suit (well, half-zip sweater).

yes.
he is running all of personnel, including contracts and player acquisition, free agency and the draft.

Clonamery · 2026-04-15T09:25:25-0400

rkarp1 said:
yes.
he is running all of personnel, including contracts and player acquisition, free agency and the draft.

I wonder if he'll hire anyone to help out. I'd like to see some an extension or 2 and contract restructures but if he's the only guy, well, that's a problem.

rkarp1 · 2026-04-15T09:30:25-0400

Clonamery said:
I wonder if he'll hire anyone to help out. I'd like to see some an extension or 2 and contract restructures but if he's the only guy, well, that's a problem.

I believe he has a staff of 16

Steve102 · 2026-04-15T09:35:02-0400

mike_usagisan said:
I don't think lack of a coach's vision led to picking up two WRs who can't play WR in any system, a guard who they thought could play tackle but seems unlikely to be able to play either tackle or guard, etc. That said, I do think it shows how vital the position coaches are in the pre-draft process of assessing how well players can even play those positions at the next level. Scouts can only take you so far.

I 100% think its lack of coaching vision. The only pick they couldn't screw up was #3 because it was a no brainer; take whichever of the 3 QBs is left.

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