MORSE: GM Search is On, Hula Bowl College All-Star Game Saturday
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Is it going to be business as usual or will the Patriots go outside of the organization and bring in some new thinking. The “Patriot Way” of evaluating pro and college prospects is not working. Mike Holley’s Book called Patriots Reign outlined the evaluation system. The book was published in 2004 and chronicled the 2002 and 2003 seasons. The evaluation system that Bill Belichick brought with him when he was hired 24 years ago, no longer works. It is so narrow in its application that it eliminates good football players that could have helped this team. Holley was given unprecedented access to the Patriots evaluations and meetings by Belichick and staff. It has been reported in the book that the Patriots have a very narrow draft board list of players, limited to 75 players. Their evaluation system also awards players for certain types of behavior. It has also been reported that Patriots scouts evaluations have been ignored by Belichick. The whole system needs to be blown up.
This season’s evaluations are already submitted by the scouts, and it is just the follow up evaluations by the position coaches and head coach remain. Whoever is the General Manager will have to use this data as it was collected. The Patriots are one of the few NFL teams that does all their own scouting and do not belong to either of the national scouting services BLETSO or National Scouting Alliance.
Who are the remaining GM candidates now that Adam Peters has signed on with the Washington Commanders. Peters would have been my 1st choice. In house candidates are Eliot Wolf Director of College Scouting and son of Ron Wolf, longtime GM of Green Bay Packers and member of the pro Football Hall of Fame (Contributor). Matt Groh, Director of Pro Personnel, is also considered a candidate and has been responsible for the last few drafts. He is the son of Al Groh, the former Linebackers coach for Bill Belichick in Cleveland.
Mike Borgonzi is a wildcard candidate. He has been with the Kansas City Chiefs for 15 years in various capacities and is now an Assistant GM. He is also an Everett native. Per Chiefs.com Borgonzi supervises and directs the club’s college and professional scouting operations while closely supporting and advising General Manager Brett Veach with the club’s roster management and player acquisition via the NFL Draft, NFL free agency, street free agency, waiver claims and trades.
Trey Brown is another longshot that has ties to head Coach Jerod Mayo. Brown was with the Patriots’ front office staff when Mayo was a player here. Brown has worked his way up the Cincinnati front office. The thing about Brown is that the Bengals have very few members of their Front Office staff and they are required to perform numerous tasks.
Dave Ziegler the former Raiders GM, would be paid by LA since he has years remaining on his contract. Ziegler was a former Director of Player Personnel with the Patriots under Belichick. Jon Robinson, the former Tennessee Titans GM was the former Director of College Scouting for the Patriots and worked for them from 2002 through 2012 when he left for a position in Tampa Bay.
Hula Bowl
The first College All Star game is this Saturday at 12:00. The Hula Bowl will have prospects that are late round selections and players that will end up as Undrafted Free Agents. The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network. The big college All-Star games are the East-West Shrine game played on February 1st, a Thursday Night at 8PM on NFL Network. On the following Saturday, February 3rd, the Senior Bowl is also on the NFL Network at 2:30 in the afternoon.
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