Wolf

[imahobgoblin]

Has anyone thought that maybe Vrabel, Cowden and Wolf make a good team and it’s a total team effort.

I think its the ultimate balance.

 

[p8ryts]

I think its the ultimate balance.

It's a little early to anoint them. Last year the star's aligned most of the year. Do it twice, that's the challenge.

 

[The Gr8est]

Traded up two times to get the player he wanted. Picking at 31, its hard to get stars.
I just hope he can close the deal on AJ Brown (without giving up a first).
No Brown and I would consider this offseason as disappointing
Wish he had been in on Greenard.

Overpaying for Brown will make the off-season a failure.

 

[The Gr8est]

Valid points. Cowden is a bit nerdy so he might not interview the best. Vrabel seems to like the "Ernie Adams" type of coach, as do a lot of PatsFans posters.

Wolf has been an assistant GM, but has never been a GM after interviewing multiple times, and the 2024 draft was his chance to shine as he had total control. Wolf bombed. It is OK to miss on a few (everyone does), but to completely miss on every pick is inexcusable. Wolf could have picked Mel Kiper's best available and done much better!!! There is no way to recover from a complete draft wipe out, Cowden has never been involved in one of those.

Worse, in 2024 Wolf wasn’t content to miss on just one 2nd round pick, he traded it so he could miss on two picks.

 

[mgteich]

Wolf is doing his job and doing it well. Full stop!

 

[festy1986]

Why is this board just a full on ***** fest all the time in every thread?

I'll participate in the ones that make sense like the cheating scandal but to see people going at each other over wolf is wild.

 

[Sect140]

I don’t see people on this thread *****ing at each other about Wolfs role on the team. It feels like people are having a discussion. I would much rather read and discuss an actual football topic than a cheating scandal.

 

[Sect140]

I think its the ultimate balance.

Yup and I thought Wolf would’ve been out of the organization by now, but after last years draft Vrabel discussed how well him, Wof and Cowden worked together before and during the draft.

 

[mayoclinic]

Having Vrabel come in with a clear picture of what kind of team he wanted to build, and what profile he wanted for positions made Wolf's job much easier.

The Pats clearly had a clear vision, and targeted key players.

OT: I wanted Freeling or Iheanachor, Lomu a similarly athletic player. They didn't expect him to last, moved up to get him.

EDGE: Wolf said Jacas was by far the highest graded player on their board, and that the Pats talked to multiple teams about moving up.

 

[Bill Lee]

I don’t see people on this thread *****ing at each other about Wolfs role on the team. It feels like people are having a discussion. I would much rather read and discuss an actual football topic than a cheating scandal.

One point of discussion: BB seemed to have a pretty fixed style, at least before the consensus era. He'd do his research and seemed to stick with his opinion no matter what. He'd typically go for his view of who was the best player available vs going for need. He was a value picker, he traded down a lot more than he traded up, because he thought he'd find value by picking more players which gave him more chances to find a keeper.

In contrast I think we see the current Wolf et al setup is more willing to consider positional need. I think some of our picks this season show they are fine with some swings for the fences, but on better pitches. They're more willing to trade up when they see something they want, rather than trade down to get more bites of the apple.

 

[Ian]

Wolf has alluded to it multiple times, but save for the seemingly bad intel on Polk from the relationships they had there, I think most of 2024 stemmed from the fact the coaching staff didn’t really have a sense of what they were going to do and I think it hurt who he and his staff were looking at since some players aren’t suited for certain schemes, etc.

We also don’t know how much of a role, if any, the previous staff had with influencing who they brought in that year. Regardless of whether or not Wolf had final say, as he’s said, he’s not going to overrule a coach, he’ll provide the information and obviously leads his staff when it comes to gathering intel and getting all that organized.

With Vrabel, he knew what they were looking for and what Vrabel and the coaches wanted, and Wolf and his staff really seem to be in sync and have drafted accordingly. Just like any job, you can hire the most brilliant minds but they might not be suited for the role. So the GM’s job is certainly easier when you have a head coach who both knows what he’s doing and communicates well and this pairing of Wolf & Vrabel, (and Cowden) certainly seems to be doing that.