MORSE: Review of the Book “The Packer Way”
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I just completed reading the book “The Packer Way” by Ron Wolf. As you may know, Wolf, the former General Manager (GM) of the Green Bay Packers and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, is the father of Patriots Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf. The Patriots, under Bob Kraft’s ownership and Bill Belichick’s guidance, do not name a GM. Belichick assumed a lot of that role as GM, Football Operations, and Head Coach.
By reading this book, I was trying to get some insight into how Eliot Wolf was going to evaluate talent ahead of the Draft. Unfortunately, the book didn’t get into that level of detail. What I found was a textbook from a Business Management class. If I were a Business Management Professor at a local college, I would use this book as a classic Business Case Analysis.
Wolf lays out 9 stepping stones to managing a Professional Sports Franchise. He takes sound business practices and applies them to organizing a Football Team. Ron Wolf was a longtime scout (12 years) for the Oakland Raiders under Al Davis, who taught him the ropes. Wolf was then hired as VP of Football Operations for the expansion franchise Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wolf resigned after three years because of disagreements with the owner, Hugh Culverhouse, who had a close relationship with Head Coach John McKay and sided with McKay over Wolf. Tampa Bay lost 26 consecutive games at the start of the Franchise. Wolf was given the blame.
Wolf returned to scouting for the Oakland/ Los Angeles Raiders for another 11 years before switching to the New York Jets to work as an Assistant GM under Dick Steinberg. From his two years there he was selected as the new GM for the Green Bay Packers. He learned from his mistakes in Tampa Bay and took a struggling franchise in Green Bay to the Super Bowl title in 1996 (over the Patriots). The team he inherited was 4-11 (back when they played 15 games).
These are the Stepping Stones:
Simple and basic application of sound business practices to develop a winning franchise that can maintain a high level of competition year in and year out.
Eliot Wolf does not have the final say like his father did at Green Bay. Mike Vrabel is in charge and has final say. However, it is amazing how similar Vrabel’s organization and approach to developing his Patriots team is to the blueprint laid out in “The Packer Way”. Vrabel was quick to identify what needed to be fixed, and needed to do this to prepare for Free Agency. Vrabel needed to identify where the holes are in the roster and how to fill them. This is the 1st Stepping Stone. An interesting thing that Wolf had to overcome was that players didn’t want to play in Green Bay. He described it as playing in Alaska. When Free Agency kicked in, Green Bay and Wolf were able to convince a premier African-American player, Reggie White, to sign and play in predominantly white Green Bay. Vrabel had a similar bias about Foxborough, with no nightlife, no stars, a Millionaires Tax, an inexperienced coaching staff, and a losing franchise. Vrabel went out and changed that in Free Agency by overpaying and signing good character players who can play.
The Next Stepping Stone is “Hire the Best Before Anyone Else Does”. Because the Patriots moved very quickly after the season ended to hire Mike Vrabel, he was able to quickly assemble a very competent coaching staff because of his familiarity and contacts within the NFL. Many of these coaches had been members of his successful coaching staff at Tennessee. Josh McDaniels is a former Head Coach and a brilliant Offensive Coordinator with a proven resume with the Patriots during the heyday of their Super Bowl Championship seasons. McDaniels served as Patriots Offensive Coordinator for 14 non-consecutive seasons and won 6 Super Bowls as a member of the coaching staff. Thomas Brown was an Offensive Coordinator and interim Head Coach in Chicago. The 60-year-old Doug Marrone has 33 years of coaching experience and was head Coach in Buffalo and Jacksonville. Todd Downing has 17 years of coaching experience and was the Offensive Coordinator twice in his career. The bottom line that making the hires early enough in the process, the Patriots and Mike Vrable got the jump on other team in filling out their coaching staff. They hired the best before anyone else did!
Vrabel is trying to re-establish an “Obssession with Winning” which is the next stepping stone. In a video that was released by Soy Fútbol, Vrabel in his introductory speech stated that the players should respect the Team, the people in the building and their teammates. He went out of his way to say the people working for the team are not your handmaids and that they are working whatever job they perform to make you better, so treat them with respect. “So, we’re building our own identity. We’re building our own team. We’re building our own program. There’s going to be things within that are different,” Vrabel says. “There’s going to be things within that that are the same. OK? And it’s all going to be based on how we make you guys, OK, as good as you possibly can be as an individual, as a player, and then as a team”. Vrabel turned around one of the issues players perceived of the Patriots by hiring a competent and experienced coaching staff. Mr. Kraft made the right move in firing Jerod Mayo after one season and hiring Mike Vrabel.
“That’s going to be our whole goal. And you have to start understanding that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.” The stated goal is to WIN the Division!
The next Stepping Stone is “Play to your Strength”. This hasn’t been established yet, or at least we are not aware of what the coaches think the strengths and weaknesses of the team are. Based on Josh McDaniels’ Offensive philosophy, I believe they will want to establish the run. I found it refreshing that McDaniel asked Maye what he liked to run and what he felt comfortable doing, and is willing to work that into the offense. Remember, one of the big flaws of Drake Maye last season was that he had never taken a snap under center in college. Naturally he feels more comfortable in shotgun.
“Use the four C’s to Measure Performance” is another Stepping Stone. The word “Certain” leads all four principle, Certain Devotion, Certain Dedication, Certain Worth Ethic and Certain Results. Ron Wolf believes that no employee deserves a job for life. They will be constantly evaluated against the 4 C’s principles if they want to be retained. This includes the front office, players and the person serving the meals in the cafeteria. It is better to let a player go a year too early than a year too late. Vrabel has jettisoned Davon Godchaux, JuWhuan Bentley, David Andrews and Joe Cardona. That’s 3 Captains from the Belichick / Mayo regime. I will also put out there that Wolf stresses communication. He encouraged Scouts and other Front Office personnel to speak their mind and be willing to support their positions on players. According to Mark Daniels from Mass Live Vrabel wants people that will debate him, not yes men. Another finding is to “Find the best, train the best and reward the best.” He also stresses to not counter offer a player or personnel if they decide to accept an offer from another employer. I disagree with this part of the “Packer Way” as I was counter offered three time in my business career and accepted them. Mike Vrabel has already strayed away from this idea with the signing of Christian Ellis in Free Agency after he received a generous offer sheet from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Eliot Wolf offered this in his Press Conference after Day Two of the Draft. “In all honesty, there were some really good conversations before our first pick [Day 2 – #38] with Coach Vrabel, Ryan [Cowden], Cam [Williams], Matt [Groh] and Alonzo [Highsmith],” Wolf said. “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 co-workers because we have to have productive disagreements for this to work”. This was believed to be Jonah Savaiinea (OG) Arizona selected just ahead of the Patriots at #37.
“Making it Work” is the next tenant of the Packer Way. This portion of the manifesto emphasizes keeping true to your principles. Stay true to your plan and structure. This is still a work in progress, the rebuilding of the Patriots.
The final three Stepping Stones have to do with the assumption that your plan has succeeded and how you are going about keeping it that way. It also talks about handling the unexpected. The Patriots are not there yet, but with Vrabel I think they are heading that way.
I read this book hoping to get some insight into how Eliot Wolf was going to go about the process of drafting players. There were two points in the book. One was to not be afraid to deal picks, including top picks for a player you are passionate about. Ron Wolf was enamored by Brett Favre when he was working for the Jets. In fact, the Jets were about to draft Favre in the 2nd round of the 1991 draft when Atlanta selected him just before the Jets. Wolf traded the 17th overall 1st round pick to Atlanta for Favre. Interesting enough, Favre was diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis to his hip, the same injury that ended Bo Jackson’s career. The team doctors wanted to flunk Favre for failing his physical and nullify the trade. Wolf overrode their decision, and Favre went on to play 16 seasons for the Packers.
The second point is to maneuver through the draft and take players that you have identified as your players trading picks to move up and down the draft board. The Patriots made 5 trades in the 2025 draft and one horrendous trade last year. The trade last year was so bad that most GMs would have been fired over it.
Eliot Wolf doesn’t have complete control that his father had. However, he introduced a new scouting system this past year. In 2024, it was Bill Belichick’s system, and Wolf couldn’t do anything about the scouting until after the draft. The term “the Hay is in the Barn” means that all the scouting, compilation, cross-checking, analysis, and evaluations were done under the old system. They were drafting from the data compiled for Bill Belichick. That doesn’t excuse the colossal mistake of trading away a chance to draft Ladd McConkey and a 5th round pick #137 for Ja’lynn Polk and Javon Baker.
Here is hoping that we can look back and fill in the remaining Stepping Stones of a successful Franchise.
Did you notice that Mike Vrabel, on the two phone calls the Patriots staff put out on Patriots.com, reminded both Will Campbell and Tre’Vyon Henderson to thank the people who got them drafted where they did? This is another example of the people skills that Vrabel has.
The Patriots put an emphasis on character guys in the draft. Five of their draft picks were also team captains, showing their leadership potential. About 1st pick Will Campbell, Evan Lazar of Patriots.com pointed out in an interview with LSU O-Line Coach Brad Davis. “He is as conscientious of a human being as I’ve been around. He doesn’t want to let people down, and he has a level of pride in his work that is unmatched.” Said Davis. He went on to say “You guys have had some unbelievable players come through your franchise. I mean, Hall of Famers. This kid has the makings to be another one of those legendary guys.” He was a two-time Captain at LSU. Tre’Vyon Henderson, Joshua Farmer, Kyle Williams and Craig Woodson were also Captains.
This even applied to the Undrafted Free Agents they signed. RB Lan Larison was a team Captain at UC Davis. WR Efton Chism was also a team Captain at Eastern Washington as was FB Brock Lampe at Northern Illinois.
Kyle Williams impressed the coaching staff by playing in his team’s Bowl game. Most draft-eligible players passed on playing in the bowl games because they didn’t want to get hurt playing in a meaningless game before they were going to get drafted. Williams had no reason to play except his own personal pride, team leadership, and love of playing football.
A funny thing happened to Williams in his interview with the Patriots. He identified Coach Vrabel as an Offensive Lineman in the NFL. Luckily, Mike Vrabel didn’t hold this mistake personally. They laughed it off afterwards as Williams stated that he knew he played in the NFL.
Jared Wilson dropped in the draft because he was only a one-year starter. He had to wait his turn to get playing time on what has been a traditionally strong Offensive Line group. The guy he was playing behind, Sedrick Granger-Pran was a three-year starter at Georgia and was drafted in the 5th round (144) last year. Granger-Pran was a 1st team All SEC in 2023, and 2nd team in 2022. Wilson turns 22 in June. I think the Patriots got a steal in Wilson and that was after Eliot Wolf traded back twice.
Baryn Swinson dropped to the 5th round because he was only productive in his final year of college eligibility. There were also reports that he disagreed with the coaching staff.
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Swinson/edge dropping to round 5…. I heard speculation that many NFL teams saw Swinson as a situational pass rusher only. Sorta like Josh Uche where he can’t hold the edge on 1st/2nd down run plays. The other thing was Swinson butting heads with coaches. Guy looks great as a pass rusher. Regards hiring of Marone, McDaniels etc. It will be interesting to see if this coaching staff, can install new systems and not have it be a rough go Sept-Nov. That new system install is in conjunction with a lot of new players coming in that haven’t played together. 4… Read more »