PATRIOTS NEWS Ryan Cowden to join front office

[mike_usagisan]

Gotcha. Wolf made the picks, Kraft just signed off on them.

This basically sums it up:

Have the Patriots run afoul of the league with bizarre GM search?

What’s going on with the Patriots’ GM search? Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio offered some interesting perspective on Tom E. Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast.

www.nbcsportsboston.com

And I may be misremembering, but Kraft came out and said that ownership made the picks but most likely to avoid getting in trouble.

 

[Ross12]

No, I’m saying that Wolf made the picks, told them to Kraft, Kraft said yes and those were the picks. I’ll go back and look but there was some reporting after the draft about Wolf getting promoted where Kraft said the final decision on the picks was his. And yeah, technically they were.

I think it really just came down to "on paper" who was running the show. They have to declare someone in that role annually, they hadn't promoted Wolf yet and Bill was already fired so they had to list someone. They couldn't list Wolf because he wasn't in the proper title yet, but if they gave him that title they'd need to comply with the Rooney Rule. So they just put Kraft's name down and then elevated Wolf later. They did comply with the Rooney Rule at that time, but it was easy to just kind of "deal with" then as opposed to there being a big spotlight on it in January/February.

 

[Real fan 02]

I like the attitude. I think Vrabel, Wolf and Cowden will work well together….

“It’s been awesome. We’re getting to know each other a little bit,” Wolf told Evan Lazar of Patriots.com at the Senior Bowl. “The thing I like about it, it’s very focused and intentional. (Coach Vrabel) knows exactly what he wants. He’s done it before. He knows ball. He can talk through every position really well. He’s already detailed about what he’s looking for, so that makes our jobs easier.”

I want to see how the draft and the roster comes together to make a clear opinion on Wolf..

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Wolf specifically said that he was buying the groceries that Vrabel wants and that he appreciates Vrabel telling him what he wants.

Mayo would just say "Get me some spaghetti sauce".

Vrabel will say "Get me a 22oz jar of Rao's Sensitive Marinara sauce and a 4.6oz tube of Pastene tomato paste, and if they're out of the Pastene get Contadina with Roasted Garlic".

 

[Ross12]

Mayo would just say "Get me some spaghetti sauce".

Vrabel will say "Get me a 22oz jar of Rao's Sensitive Marinara sauce and a 4.6oz tube of Pastene tomato paste, and if they're out of the Pastene get Contadina with Roasted Garlic".

Mayo wouldn't even say "get me spaghetti sauce", he would say "get me uhhh something I can put on some kind of noodle"

 

[40yrpatsfan]

This basically sums it up:

Have the Patriots run afoul of the league with bizarre GM search?

What’s going on with the Patriots’ GM search? Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio offered some interesting perspective on Tom E. Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast.

www.nbcsportsboston.com

And I may be misremembering, but Kraft came out and said that ownership made the picks but most likely to avoid getting in trouble.

I think Wolf made numerous mistakes in last year's draft:
- at the end of R1, he couldn't figure out how to move up 4 to 6 spots from 34 to score Worthy, Legette, or Coleman?
- then at 34, passing on Ladd McConkey, who looks like Wes Welker only better?
- after the above mistakes, to compound it by taking Polk, thereby missing on a couple of LT prospects
End result is that we ended up with a lesser WR and a lesser OT. On top of the Tyquan fiasco that he was a part of, that's not good.

I'm OK with keeping him but glad we have other voices now.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Mayo wouldn't even say "get me spaghetti sauce", he would say "get me uhhh something I can put on some kind of noodle"

Well, he probably turned the offense player needs over to AVP/Wolf/McAdoo. On defense, they didn't get any players, just resigned all the guys we had.

Mayo might never have asked for any groceries; he just wandered into the kitchen like a teenager and started eating whatever he found.

 

[Zuma]

I want to see how the draft and the roster comes together to make a clear opinion on Wolf..

Vrabel is ultimately picking the players. If the draft turns out good, Vrabel should be taking most of the credit. Wolf and others will make suggestions...not making the final decision.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Vrabel is ultimately picking the players. If the draft turns out good, Vrabel should be taking most of the credit. Wolf and others will make suggestions...not making the final decision.

Agreed, but if the team does well, everyone looks better and everyone takes credit. That's how you get buy in.

 

[Real fan 02]

Vrabel is ultimately picking the players. If the draft turns out good, Vrabel should be taking most of the credit. Wolf and others will make suggestions...not making the final decision.

Your right. But wolf still plays a part and has a say. What a total 360 from the clown show from last season. Just feels like we are headed In the right direction.

 

[Real fan 02]

Vice President of player Personnel E Wolf - Vice President of Player Personnel Ryan Cowden??

Two guys doing the same job.

 

[Real fan 02]

Agreed, but if the team does well, everyone looks better and everyone takes credit. That's how you get buy in.

I'd bet you.. even though the players on defense loved mayo the person.. if they were being honest they'd say they love the Vrabel hire. J. Jones even admitted they kind of expected mayo to be fired...

 

[Ross12]

I think Wolf made numerous mistakes in last year's draft:
- at the end of R1, he couldn't figure out how to move up 4 to 6 spots from 34 to score Worthy, Legette, or Coleman?
- then at 34, passing on Ladd McConkey, who looks like Wes Welker only better?
- after the above mistakes, to compound it by taking Polk, thereby missing on a couple of LT prospects
End result is that we ended up with a lesser WR and a lesser OT. On top of the Tyquan fiasco that he was a part of, that's not good.

I'm OK with keeping him but glad we have other voices now.

He did try to move up and had a deal in place with Buffalo but then they shafted him. Otherwise fair questions. And fair to question the wisdom in relying on making a deal with a division rival in the first place.

Ironically the Bills traded with the Chiefs instead, and then the Chiefs used the player in that trade substantially to beat them in the AFCCG. So, karma for Buffalo in the end.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Vrabel is ultimately picking the players. If the draft turns out good, Vrabel should be taking most of the credit. Wolf and others will make suggestions...not making the final decision.

The thing is, Vrabel will not have studied the tape on all these prospects like Wolf and the scouts. So he’s gotta have some trust in what he’s being told. You’re describing the BB method, and it won’t be that I don’t think.

 

[Triumph]

Mayo would just say "Get me some spaghetti sauce".

Vrabel will say "Get me a 22oz jar of Rao's Sensitive Marinara sauce and a 4.6oz tube of Pastene tomato paste, and if they're out of the Pastene get Contadina with Roasted Garlic".

Justa like Mama used to make a.

 

[Triumph]

Two guys doing the same job.

Thunder is the tiebreaker.

I don't like it one bit. Without naming names, Bruschi already spoke of people in the Pats front office who need to stand down.

 

[Triumph]

He did try to move up and had a deal in place with Buffalo but then they shafted him. Otherwise fair questions. And fair to question the wisdom in relying on making a deal with a division rival in the first place.

Ironically the Bills traded with the Chiefs instead, and then the Chiefs used the player in that trade substantially to beat them in the AFCCG. So, karma for Buffalo in the end.

The Bills also traded the 2017 10th pick to the Chiefs that was used on taking Mahomes.

Those dopes are keeping McDermott too.

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[jimnance]

I want to see how the draft and the roster comes together to make a clear opinion on Wolf..

Wolf is ok as long as he's not in a position to make any decisions. Vrabel is his boss and Cowden will be too. They might even cut him loose before the season.

 

[bakes781]

A lot of fans like to point out the inability to select a WR but at least they've tried to address that position. They've completely whiffed at the more crucial position of OL. That's my biggest beef with Wolf. He's been on the Kraft payroll for going on 5 years now? We literally have no LT! And it's not much better at RT either. Then you look at David Andrews and anyone could've told you he isn't long for his job at Center.

 

[Huckleberry1]

It's easy to see why things were messy in personnel last year. Was Mayo able to articulate what kind of players he wanted, especially on offense? In free agency, they seemed to really focus on keeping their defense intact because Mayo most likely told Wolf that he was going to "run it back" with the same defensive scheme/plan that Belichick ran, but then obviously they were incompetent and incapable of actually doing that. And beyond all of that, Wolf was not actually the "EVP of Player Personnel" at all until after free agency and the draft were both long over, so his hands may have been a bit tied.

I agree. I don’t think Mayo had any vision of the kind of football team he wanted to put together. With Vrabel it couldn’t be any clearer, and you need to have a Head Coach who both has a clear vision of what they want from each player, unit, and side of the ball, and who can be trusted to make the final choices of those players so that they fit together as a team. Vrabel knows what he wants, and Wolf, Cowden, and the scouts should be able to give him the best options in free agency and the draft. I also think they will be a cohesive unit in putting together both their options in free agency, and stacking their draft board. And when it comes to getting free agents to come to New England I think Vrabel will be very convincing to players, and I don’t believe Kraft will cheap out on him.