TRANSCRIPT: Eliot Wolf Post-Night Two Patriots Draft Press Conference 4/25
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Here’s what Eliot Wolf had to say following the end of the third round Friday night. Portions of the beginning were omitted as the broadcast was joined in progress:
OPENING STATEMENT:
” … Obviously, the college scouting season is all year long, and these families really sacrifice a lot. Their husband’s away on the road a lot. And appreciate the coaching staff coming in, new staff, trying to install offense and defense, and really bending over backwards for us to watch as many possible players as they can, getting a week off, going to pro days. It’s just been a really good process with Coach Vrabel, and we’re excited about the guys we were able to add.”
“Any questions?”
On breaking down some of the players they selected Friday night, starting with Henderson:
“Sure. TreVeyon Henderson had a great career in high school. He was a five-star running back coming out of Virginia. Continued on at Ohio State, started as a true freshman, played there for four years. Extremely productive player, extremely good speed, pass protection, pass game, although he’s a little bit under sized, we view him as a three-down back and just a really good complement. He’s a threat with the ball in his hands, speed to take it the distance anytime he touches it.”
On Kyle Williams:
“Yeah, Kyle Williams started his career at UNLV, ended up at Washington State, had a really productive junior year when Cam Ward was a quarterback there, and then continued that on this year. Fast, can play outside and inside, really good with the ball in his hands. For an undersized guy, he’s really tough. He doesn’t shy away from anything. He can block. And just had the opportunity to visit with him on his 30 visit here, and he really has a great personality, and we’re excited about what he’s going to add to the room from that perspective.
On Jared Wilson:
“And then Jared Wilson, just a young, athletic offensive lineman, has center guard flex. Just didn’t give up a sack all year this year. And his athletic ability is really what stands out about him.”
On how he anticipates any of these to challenge the starting roles or competing:
“We see all of them with the ability to come in and compete. Obviously, with Coach Vrabel, it’s going to be a blank slate, and everyone’s going to come in and have the same opportunity. Certainly, we have some established players at some of these positions, but each player is going to come in and we’ll see what they can do.”
On the fact he mentioned the idea of addressing the defense maybe on day three, and how he feels what they did over the first couple of days set them up for day three:
“We were able to add a couple of picks. We added a fifth, and then we added another pick next year. So we were excited to be able to do that. And that’s just kind of the way the board was dictated to us, the way it was stacked. So we would feel fortunate about that. Then the way the board is holding up right now, there’s still some players that we feel can help us moving forward.”
On the fact he talked about Wilson having center guard flexibility, with the signing of Bradbury, if he’s the starter for this year, if he could see Wilson getting to compete at potentially left guard with the guys they have there:
“Yeah, I can see that being a possibility. Most of his experience has been at center in this past year, but he had played guard. Or he was basically the sixth man at Georgia prior to this year. So he’s got experience practicing and playing at guard there. So I think center is ultimately going to be his best position, but we’ll get him in here, see what he can handle mentally and see what he can do.”
On the fact they have 10 receivers and if he anticipates any moves there, including moving on from a veteran or two:
“No, I see it as us being able to add depth and strengthen the group. Obviously, Stefon is going to be limited as we move through the spring here, so we’re still going to give those guys as many opportunities as we can.”
On the fact the broadcast showed him on the phone as the clock wound down with under a minute with that 38th overall pick and if he can take us through what was happening there and why they ended up with TreVeyon Henderson:
“Yeah. So some teams were calling, talking about moving up, and ultimately, we didn’t feel that the value that was being offered to us was worth possibly losing out on TreVeyon. So we just ended up sending the pick in and getting him on the phone with about 58 seconds left there.”
On the fact he mentioned the other trades with the way the board was stacked, if that was players coming off the board right before they picked and trading down, or if it was that they had an idea that some of those guys would be available later that they’re interested in:
“Yeah, a little bit of both. There were some guys that were drafted, maybe not right before us, but a few picks before us. And then some teams, it was pretty active there in that third round with teams trying to move around a lot. So some of the calls were kind of crazy asking for stuff because I feel like a lot of times people just look at their point chart and don’t really use common sense at times. So there were some funny asks, but ultimately we feel like we did what was best.”
On the fact Will Campbell said he had a meeting with him last fall, and what his experience was like when it came to that conversation:
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was a meeting. I was at practice, and practice ended. Sherman Wilson, who works at LSU, brought Will over, and we had a conversation, and he told me that he really would love to be a New England Patriot. I kind of just assumed at the time that he said that to every scout that came by. But as some of those conversations continued, postseason and seeing him at the combine and stuff like that, he was being genuine about it. He really was locked in on us, and we were locked in on him for a long time, too.”
On Campbell and his wingspan being a historical outlier for the position and how he views that information, and whether or not that gave him any pause:
“I wouldn’t say it gave pause. It’s something that you kind of get that metric, and you go back and look at it. I think we only started measuring wingspan like 10 years ago. So, historically, for the last 10 years, maybe it’s an outlier. But ultimately, it always comes back to the tape and just some of his unique athletic ability and ability to bend and extend, even though he doesn’t have that long wingspan, his ability to recover, and his ability to anticipate. For a young guy, he’s pretty polished for an offensive lineman. So we just kept coming back to the tape and seeing those things and didn’t think they affected him too much.”
On the system that they have on the four picks they had to make, if there was a point of emphasis on defensive speed and realizing they needed to get faster and more explosive:
“Yeah, it’s definitely an emphasis. All four of the guys we picked can run. Probably doesn’t matter as much for the offensive linemen unless there’s a turnover. But the two skilled players we drafted, even Kyle, I think, ran 4.45, and Trevian ran 4.41. But I think when you watch the film, I think we both expected those guys to run faster. So I think their play speed is really what stands out about them, too.”
On the fact a few weeks back he talked about taking the best player on the board at certain points of the draft and if that was the case with TreVeyon because going in, running back may not have necessarily been the need, but in that instance, if that was a time where they looked at the board and said ‘he’s the best player here’:
“Exactly. Yeah, that’s what we did. We just felt like his ability to… It’s a deep draft for running backs. There’s still some guys up there that we feel like could help us, but just his ability to be a threat, make huge plays was something that stood out with him versus the rest of the class.”
On Kyle Williams’ ability to beat man coverage and how much that appealed to them and factored into his evaluation:
“Yeah, quite a bit. His ability to win off the line with his releases and accelerate, his ability to stem guys at the top of the route. There’s still some things that he could work on and clean up, which I’m sure Todd [Downing] and Josh [McDaniels] will work on him with, but that was something that stood out to us throughout the process.”
On TreVeyon’s leadership and maturity factored into his evaluation:
“We feel like all four of the guys we drafted are good people. That’s obviously an emphasis moving forward, getting the right type of people in to fit the culture. And TreVeyon, he’s a senior, which is pretty rare in this draft so far. But the time we spent with him was pretty good.”
On the fact TreVeyon said he had limited contact with them before the draft, and what goes into that evaluation when they maybe haven’t met with the player as much personally:
“I feel like TreVeyon maybe forgot one of the meetings because Coach Downing met with him at Ohio State, and he didn’t mention that. But we’ll have to talk to Todd. Maybe he wasn’t wearing his Patriots shirt. But no, we spent time with him, and obviously, we have ample connections with Ohio State, not only Vrabel, but Stretch, Cam Williams, both those guys are Ohio State alums. And we have a really good relationship with those people over there. And obviously, this was a great year to have those connections with them winning the national championship and obviously the number of players that are going to be drafted from there.”
On the drafting of Wilson, if that allows Cole Strange to go back to left guard or if he sees him competing at the center position:
“We see versatility is the name of the game here. So, we feel like Cole, obviously, has the experience at guard, primarily got that great experience at center last year, so we feel like he can compete at both spots.”
On the fact that it looks like they’ve addressed every need this offseason from defense, free agency, offense, offensive line, receiver and if he feels like at this point in the offseason that they’ve been successful in getting together a team that can compete tomorrow if they had to:
“We do. That was obviously an emphasis, and that’s something that we came up short with last year. So moving forward, I still think there are a bunch of areas that we can add depth to. And there’s some areas, particularly on defense, that we feel like we need to shore up a little bit.”
On what it was about Jared Wilson, despite only playing one year at center, that made them want to take him:
“Yeah, I mean, he’s still a young guy. So I think your point about playing one year is maybe what we liked a little bit. It’s just the upside, the trajectory for him to have the success he had this year as a first-year starter. We think that the sky’s the limit for him, especially with his unique athletic ability. And he’s big. I mean, he’s 310 pounds.”
On whether it was a trade and pick they made or a trade or pick that didn’t happen, what the hardest decision was tonight:
“The hardest decision tonight was what to eat. I wasn’t really excited about some of the choices in there, but eventually they… No, in all honesty, there was some really good conversations before our first pick with Coach Vrabel and Ryan [Cowden] and Cam [Williams] and Matt [Groh] and Alonzo [Highsmith]. Just … there was a little bit of a debate about who we were going to pick. And ultimately, one of the players we were talking about got drafted, so it didn’t end up mattering. But I think it was a really good step in the right direction, just for us working together in our relationship as coworkers. And because we have to have productive disagreements for this to work. We can’t just agree on everything. We can’t just acquiesce to each other on something. So I think it was really productive from that standpoint.”
On if he can name the player:
“No.”
On if there was a worst trade offer for them:
“I would say there were more trade offers tonight than I would say was normal. No. I mean, there were some that were just like, you don’t even have to think about it. Sometimes you get off the phone, you’re like, ‘Hey, let me check on that. I’ll call you right back.’ And there were a couple that were just like, ‘No.'”
On if there were any thoughts of moving up the board to snag someone they had targeted:
“Yeah, we had some of those conversations. And again, they were probably saying the same thing that I just said about us. ‘That’s not enough.’ But ultimately, it just didn’t work out in that fashion.”
On the fact that both TreVeyon and Jared both having won National Championships and being on National Championship rosters, Wilson having played in big games, if there’s something to be said by bringing in those types of guys in:
“Yeah, I think it’s winning championships and also the pedigree of some of these guys. Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, even Washington State played some big games. So I think when you have that pedigree, I think it gives … these guys come in a little bit more ready maybe than some guys from some other schools.”
On if he feels like they’ve gravitated toward the offensive side of the ball because they feel like they can directly support Drake Maye and if it’s easier to pull the trigger on an offensive player versus a defensive player at the same spot:
“I mean, again, sometimes it’s just how the board works out. Again, we’re not necessarily drafting for need, but we’re drafting with our current roster in mind. So obviously, some of these guys, like you said, maybe the running back position wasn’t like a top need, but it was certainly somewhere we wanted to add speed to the roster, to your point. So here’s a fast guy that plays running back that can really help us. that’s a really good player. that’s a good person. So there you go.”
On the fac that while quarterback wasn’t a big need, but what his reaction is to Shedeur Sanders still being on the board:
“It’s surprising. We evaluated him. I had the opportunity to watch him play Oklahoma State this year, and they killed Oklahoma State. So it maybe wasn’t the best game to look at. But it was interesting to see that he’s still available, and I’m sure there’s going to be a fit for him here tomorrow.”
On the fact that he said despite being a little bit undersized, he sees TreVeyon as a three down back and what it is about him that makes him think he can do that:
“Well, as far as a third-down standpoint, he’s a really good pass protector. He can run routes, he can catch the football, but he can also run inside. He’s not like a grinder between the tackles power runner, but he has good vision. He hits the hole hard, he has good feet, and obviously, he has the speed to run outside. So we just feel like he has that toughness and versatility.”
On the fact he mentioned defense as a focus tomorrow and the fact they have a lot of picks, and if he feels like he’s prepared to go up and target specific players and positions with extra capital that they have in the 4th or 5th round:
“Yeah, certainly we have that option. I think we’re up fourth tomorrow, so I wouldn’t imagine we’ll go up from there. But with having three fives, we have some flexibility to maybe go up if the board dictates that there’s someone that we can’t live without.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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