So Far, Patriots Wolf Playing It Smart Through Five Rounds
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Through five selections in this 2024 Patriots Draft, there appear to be mixed reviews when it comes to the job that new de-facto GM Eliot Wolf has done so far, but one thing is pretty obvious.
Wolf may not have gone for the green with every swing, but he’s hit it straight and far up the fairway with every selection the club has taken so far.
The selection of Drake Maye on Day 1 wasn’t really a surprise, with Wolf turning down trade offers from both the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings after neither club offered enough to entice a move down for New England.
Maye was considered to be the smartest choice by most pundits leading up to Thursday night. His ceiling has been discussed at length, with the majority of questions being about his floor as he begins his NFL career. With Jacoby Brissett carrying the baton to start the season, there’s certainly no reason to rush him into the line-up. Maye has time to develop and work on his footwork, his mechanics, a lot of the things that many believed to be issues at the next level.
But from there, Wolf has opted to play it smart. He took receiver Ja’Lynn Polk with the #37 overall pick after trading down Friday from #34, which also allowed them to move up 27 slots from round five into round four (#110 overall). They parlayed that pick into UCF’s Javon Baker, which we’ll get into in a moment.
New England reportedly attempted moving back into round one Thursday night, but no deal materialized. It’s unknown who they may have been targeting, although reports have said there was a receiver they had an interest in.
Polk ended up being their first wideout taken, and he’s a tall, athletic player who attacks the football and was a key piece as Washington went on it’s run to the National Championship game against Michigan. For an offense that will be looking to stretch the defense and take advantage of Maye’s ability to get the ball down the field, his addition certainly makes sense.
Some have compared him to former receiver DeVante Parker, but Polk is a far more aggressive player who goes up and attacks the ball with outstanding hands. He’s also faster with pretty good acceleration once he gets the ball in his hands. If nothing else, he also seems like someone who may actually contribute after the incredible drought they’ve experienced drafting guys in Round 2 over the years.
The same can be said for fellow wideout Baker, who has quite the edge. His Twitter bio actually has “I Hate DB’s” in his profile, and he wasn’t shy about letting people know what he brings to the table.
“Just come to the home stadium and bring ya’ll popcorn,” said Baker when asked about what Patriots fans can expect about his game. “That’s all I can tell you y’all. Bring your popcorn. I make people in wheelchairs stand up. Bring your popcorn.”
That type of cockiness is something we haven’t seen in recent memory, so it should be interesting to eventually see what he does on the field.
Meanwhile, the club finally addressed the offensive line on Friday night, targeting Penn State tackle, Caedan Wallace in round 3 (#68 overall). Wallace is a player who was apparently on their board coming into Friday night and while Wolf and the front office pondered moving back, he admitted that it wasn’t worth the risk given that the guy they wanted was there for the taking.
“Wallace was a guy we had targeted,” said Wolf last night. “We had some exploratory conversations about possibly moving back from 68, and then it was just kind of like, ‘Well, why? This is the guy we had wanted all along.’ So, sometimes it doesn’t fall for you. It fell pretty nicely for us today.”
Wallace is a guy who played right tackle for Penn State, but during his conference call, he made it clear that he had no concern about being able to make the move to the other side. Wolf explained that the only reason he played right tackle at Penn State was due to the fact the team had Olu Fashanu on the left and he believes there’s no reason Wallace can’t make the transition.
“Yeah, we feel like Caedan has the athleticism to play over on the left side,” said Wolf. “Really, his teammate, Olu Fashanu that the Jets drafted was the reason that he played on the right. So, athletically there’s no reason why he couldn’t make the switch over there. He’s a really smart dedicated kid that we feel like can handle that.”
They went offensive line again at #103 overall, taking Texas A&M’s Layden Robinson. He’s another player who is big and athletic, albeit he’s considered to be an interior lineman. However, he said during his own conference call that he was confident in his own versatility. As a result, he adds another big athletic presence up front as Wolf begins reinforcing things up front.
Still, his selection opens the door for questions about the health of Cole Strange, who suffered a season-ending knee injury late in 2023 that has some people questioning his status. The team already has Sidy Sow, Atonio Mafi, Jake Andrews among interior lineman, with Robinson now joining that group. Robinson also said he’s spent time snapping after practice, which could make both he and Jake Andrews as potential future options at center, depending on what happens with David Andrews after 2024.
But given what we’ve seen, Wolf has taken his shots at moving around, but after not getting the deals he wanted, he’s instead simply targeted solid players who appear like they’ll be future contributors.
For a Patriots club that is in dire need of re-establishing a pipeline of young talent, that’s about all they could have hoped for. The team needs more hits and fewer misses, and through five rounds, that appears to be exactly what Wolf has done so far.
Barring any trades, New England has three remaining selections, two in Round 6 (#180 Overall and #193 Overall [via Jaguars]) and one in Round 7 (#231 Overall [via Bears]).
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