It’s likely been a frustrating few months for Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf.
Since being hired on to lead the rebuild for this New England Patriots team, Wolf was handed plenty of cap space and the keys to help put together a competitive roster, but so far, he’s finding out what it’s like to try and do that from a less than ideal position.
They swung and missed on Calvin Ridley back in March, with reports at the time indicating that the longer those negotiations went on, the more Wolf seemingly felt the club was being used as leverage to get Ridley what he wanted, but just not in Foxboro.
That ended up being the case as both New England and Jacksonville each bid for his services, setting things up for the Titans to jump in at the last minute while allowing the receiver to stay in the south, which we learned later was a significant preference that essentially eliminated Foxboro as an option.
Heading into April, the Patriots instead addressed their need at receiver in both second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk, while later also adding Javon Baker in Round 4. Both have been terrific through camp so far, with the team doing something they haven’t done in quite some time, seemingly hitting on two skill players at what’s been a tough position for them.
On Tuesday, they jumped in the fray for Brandon Aiyuk, with things apparently coming to a head as the 49ers gave the disgruntled wideout the opportunity to negotiate his way out of town. The only requirement appeared to be any team interested initially needed to meet San Francisco’s demands, with that club then needing to satisfy whatever it is Aiyuk’s looking for in terms of compensation on a new contract.
The Patriots apparently met the first criteria, with Kendrick Bourne potentially part of whatever terms the club did ultimately reach with the 49ers. Head coach Jerod Mayo wouldn’t discuss any details about the negotiations during his press conference on Tuesday, but he did reveal that he had a discussion with Bourne, which basically signaled the veteran wideout was likely part of those talks.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots were “aggressive” in their pursuit of Aiyuk Tuesday night. He reported that for the second time, New England once again went above and beyond their normal spending threshold, with Reiss reporting that the team was prepared to pay him an annual salary commensurate with the top 5 receivers in the league. NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Matt Maiocco reported that number was potentially over $30 million per season.
However, according to Adam Schefter, despite making a strong effort and showing interest in bringing him to New England, it was Aiyuk’s response to their offer that caused the Patriots to walk away from the negotiating table.
“They weren’t getting a great vibe here as they tried to conduct communication with Brandon Aiyuk and his agent,” said Schefter. “The longer it went on, the worse they felt about it and eventually they said, ‘What are we doing here?’ Let’s just focus in on the young receivers that we have.”
It’s frustrating, but with the Patriots coming off a 4-13 season and starting over with an unknown head coach in Mayo, it’s making it challenging when it comes to trying to lure players.
The club is in need of star power, and they’re essentially in a chicken/egg situation. They can’t land those stars without stars on the roster, which now means that any identity they build during this upcoming season will have to come from their young roster.
While it’s easy to say that money is the deciding factor, the problem is those players are talented enough to dictate where they land, and if the money is close or equal – even if the Patriots offer more – it’s still ultimately their call when it comes to their preferred destination.
For now, the Patriots will have to continue building from within. Should they make progress in 2024, along with an eventual emergence by Drake Maye, hopefully that will improve how they’re viewed and make this destination a little less questionable than it currently feels like it is.
Maybe that will improve the “vibe” moving forward. But for now, seeing growth with their current group, as Schefter points out, will have to be the focus until that happens.
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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.
it would be interesting to hear the key points on this. Ridley was a geographical interestl but also mentioned in the mix was MA state income taxes forcing the Patriots to pay ~10% more just to price match. That’s a handicap for the pats given the pats don’t get a state specific cap adjustment to level the playing field vs a team like Carolina.