One other interesting takeaway from Tuesday’s press conference with Eliot Wolf is the fact that when it comes to the grading system the team is using, Wolf admitted that there was one key change that made things a little different moving forward for the Patriots.
According to Wolf, the previous Patriots system was more nuanced and more “role-based,” whereas Wolf told reporters that their new system is more of an overall view in terms of a player’s skillset, which is similar to how they did things during his time with the Packers.
“We changed the grading system. It’s a little bit more similar to what we did in Green Bay,” explained Wolf. “The previous Patriots system was more, ‘this is what the role is,’ and this is more, kind of, value-based. So I think it makes it a lot easier for scouts to rate guys and put them in a stack of like, ‘this guy’s the best,’ ‘this guy’s the worst,’ and everything in-between falls into place rather than sort of more nuanced approaches.
“I just think it accounts value better, and it also makes it easier for the scouts in the fall as well as in the spring to determine where guys will get drafted.”
That essentially provides a little clearer overhead view of things, as opposed to trying to look for certain traits that may or may not be effective.
Wolf went on to explain that the overall view still accounts for things like players who are a perimeter receiver, slot receiver, not just an overall view as an athlete. However, he simply pointed out that it’s not quite as specific as how things were viewed previously.
“I mean, we’ll still have slot receivers, perimeter receivers, things like that,” said Wolf. “To me, it’s a little bit less about the grading system and more about the process that we’ve put in place.”
Player development was also something he pointed out as a point of emphasis, which could signal that we’ll see the younger guys seeing action a little sooner than we may have seen them in the past.
“I think there’s going to be a little bit more reliance on playing young players,” said Wolf. “I think it’s really important in today’s football to be able to play young players and develop from within.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The above appeared in a recent notebook column here.)
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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