With Super Bowl LVIII in the books, the 2023 campaign has come to a close. Teams outside Kansas City and San Francisco had already turned their attention to the offseason well before Sunday’s game, of course.
Regular season standings determine the order for the top 18 picks, so they have been known since the conclusion of Week 18. For the second straight year, the Bears face the question of dealing away the top selection and starting over at quarterback or re-committing to Justin Fields. Expectations still point toward Caleb Williams heading to Chicago, although the Bears will not move the No. 1 pick at a discounted price.
With the Commanders also in position to add a signal-caller second overall, the Patriots and Cardinals will be worth watching closely. New England will be in the market for a QB, but it may not come via the team’s top selection. Arizona’s position could also be a trade-up target for teams seeking a quarterback addition. This year’s class is expected to be dominated by blue-chip prospects under center, as well as at wide receiver and offensive tackle.
The final 14 spots in the draft order are filled by postseason results. The Chiefs find themselves in familiar territory picking at or near the end of the first-round order for the fourth time in the past five years following another Super Bowl appearance. The team has a mixed track record with its selections in that regard, but another impact rookie would of course help its bid to sustain its impressive run.
While a number of selections will no doubt be swapped between now and draft day, here is the full 2024 first-round order:
After seeing Mac Jones regress from Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2021 to third-string quarterback by the end of the 2023 campaign, the Patriots, in the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era, are widely expected to select a signal-caller in the upcoming draft. With Caleb Williams likely to be the No. 1 overall pick, New England will have at least one of Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels to choose from when it is on the clock with the No. 3 overall selection. However, ESPN’s Dan Graziano hears that the Pats are open to trading that pick and acquiring more assets to restock a generally weak roster (subscription required).
In that scenario, New England would look to free agency for a quarterback. Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield presently top the free agent QB class, though both players could re-sign with their current clubs before the legal tampering period opens. If that happens, the Pats would be picking from a number of backup or bridge types like Ryan Tannehill, Jameis Winston, and Drew Lock (it should be noted that Russell Wilson is also likely to hit the open market in short order).
A team like New England that is probably at least a year away from contention may be perfectly willing to roll with a stopgap option for one season if that strategy allows them to supplement other areas of need. On the other hand, the 2025 class of collegiate QBs is not shaping up to be an inspiring one, so selecting a player like Maye or Daniels now may prove to be the Patriots’ best course of action, even if the bottom-heavy 2025 crop increases the value of the No. 3 pick in 2024.
If new personnel chiefEliot Wolf and new head coach Jerod Mayo ultimately decide that a trade down makes more sense, then Graziano expects the Falcons, who presently hold the No. 8 overall pick, and the Vikings (No. 11 overall) to have interest. Atlanta, which came close to hiring Belichick as its new HC, has plenty of non-QB talent and could be a quarterback away from being a legitimate contender (though team brass is currently undecided on how it will go about upgrading the position). Minnesota, meanwhile, has already been mentioned as a trade-up candidate, and if the team is unable to agree to a new deal with Cousins by the start of the 2024 league year on March 13, it will be saddled with a $28.5MM dead money charge. Per Graziano, there are some within the Vikes organization that are particularly keen on pairing Daniels with fellow LSU product Justin Jefferson, so New England and Minnesota could line up on a trade if the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is not selected with one of the first two picks in the draft. The Vikings having their QB1 on a rookie deal would certainly help ease the sting of a Cousins departure and his dead money parting gift.
In a piece detailing the quarterback situations of a number of clubs, the NFL.com trio of Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero, and Mike Garafolo believe that the Patriots will try to trade Jones in the coming weeks. The relationship between Belichick and Jones deteriorated over Jones’ first three years in the league, and although Belichick is gone, New England’s new power brokers are seemingly prepared for some sort of reset at the position. Indeed, a change of scenery may benefit both parties.
Mark Daniels of MassLive.com, in an article that is well-worth a read for Pats fans in particular, notes that Jones was (understandably) frustrated with Belichick’s decision to hire Matt Patricia as a replacement for Josh McDaniels in 2022 and to shift to an offensive system different than the one in which Jones thrived in his rookie season. Jones’ resistance to those changes angered Belichick, and the HC-QB dynamic went downhill from there.
Hiring Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator in 2023 did not yield the results that the team hoped for, and Mark Daniels reports that New England staff did not view Jones as a strong enough leader, believing instead that the third-year passer simply “wanted to be one of the guys.” Plus, when the Pats’ offense sputtered, Jones began to freelance and play outside of O’Brien’s system, and as Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal observes, Jones simply lost the locker room.
After he was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe, Jones watched every NFL game he ever played in to see what went wrong, and he ultimately acknowledged that his improvisational tactics were a major reason for the offense’s struggles. Given his status as a 2021 first-rounder and the potential he showed that season, Jones may draw some trade interest, but as Mark Daniels unsurprisingly reports, the Patriots will not exercise Jones’ fifth-year option if he is still on the club by the May 2 deadline to pick up or decline those options.
The issue of cash spending has been a talking point for the Patriots in recent years in particular, but the departure of Bill Belichick and the cap situation the team is in could bring about a change. When speaking about the matter, owner Robert Kraft pushed back on criticism of the team’s financial approach while stating money will not be an issue in the coming offseason.
“I know there’s a perception that we have held back on spending,” Kraft said, via Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe. “Let me just say, for our fans, that’s just not true.”
New England ranked 31st in the league with respect to cash (as opposed to salary cap) spending in 2023, continuing a trend in terms of Belichick’s roster management preferences as de facto general manager. The Patriots do not have a recent track record of retaining many homegrown players on second contracts, relying heavily on players on their rookie deals and low-cost veterans. Things could change moving forward with Eliot Wolf now in charge of roster decisions, but Kraft defended the approach Belichick employed for many years.
“Look, we were blessed to have a coach in our system who was a great coach and also understood value,” Kraft added. “He ran a tight ship. They say we’ve been low spenders in the last 10 years, and that might be true, but we had a pretty good record. And we won three Super Bowls. But our coaches have always had the ability to spend at whatever level they wanted.”
The issue of finances was a public talking point this summer between Belichick and Kraft in advance of the season in which their storied working relationship ultimately came to an end. New head coach Jerod Mayo will oversee the team’s transition, one which will likely include a starting quarterback being added either in free agency or the draft. The Patriots have the No. 3 selection as well as the third-most cap space in the league at the moment, so their new brain trust will have considerable flexibility in attempting to rebound from the struggles of the post-Tom Brady era.
The trend of former players turning to coaching after their playing careers end continued today with former Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower getting hired to coach his former team’s linebackers group, according to his agents at SportsTrust Advisors. ESPN’s Mike Reiss posted that the hiring seemed to complete the main coaching hires on the defensive side of the ball, indicating that cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino would be returning to coach the position in 2024.
Hightower was a 2012 first-round addition out of Alabama for the Patriots back in 2012. An immediate starter, Hightower performed at a high level for the entirety of his ten-year career, all of which saw him play in red, white, and blue. The two-time Pro Bowler’s only big issue throughout his career was durability. Throughout his time in New England, he only appeared in every game of a season once and missed 11 games in 2017 due to a torn pectoral muscle. He also was one of the few NFL players who opted out of the 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hightower would return for the 2021 season and, after going unsigned in 2022, would retire in 2023. Hightower finished his career with 569 total tackles, 43 tackles for loss, 27 sacks, two forced fumbles, and five fumble recoveries. He hit the quarterback 67 times, intercepted them once, and deflected 18 passes over his career.
Hightower will return to the NFL as a coach for the only team he ever played for, joining his former teammate, and new head coach, Jerod Mayo. With former defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington taking over as defensive coordinator, Hightower is joining new defensive line coachJerry Montgomery, returning safeties coachBrian Belichick, and Pellegrino as the position coaches on the defensive staff. This should conclude the major hires on this side of the ball, though minor roles may still be filled.
Speaking of a minor coaching role, New England is reportedly finalizing a deal to bring in former Panthers assistant offensive line coach Robert Kugler, per Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal. Kugler is a hot name in coaching circles who is viewed as a possible candidate for offensive coordinator jobs in the not-too-distant future.
This year’s HC cycle became the rare carousel to generate more attention around the coaches who did not land jobs than the ones hired. Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel being left out will assuredly generate stories ahead of the 2025 hiring period, and it will be worth monitoring if Pete Carroll is connected to another coaching job.
But eight teams — up from five in 2023 — made the decision to change coaches. Dan Quinn‘s hire filled the final vacancy. While the Commanders’ process generated extensive fallout, teams are now moving forward with staff assembly following their HC hires.
The Commanders look to have gone through a bit of back-and-forth about their interest in Lions OC Ben Johnson. Pushing back on the notion the two-year Detroit play-caller was their top choice all along, Washington will give Quinn a second chance. But the former Dallas DC may well have been Washington’s third choice; the team made an aggressive push to landMike Macdonald as well. The Seahawks finished that 11th-hour competition by giving the young Ravens DC a six-year deal.
Only Seattle and Washington waited until after the conference championship games to hire their coaches. Macdonald, who is half Carroll’s age, becomes the NFL’s youngest HC (36). (New Patriots leader Jerod Mayo, 37, held that title for several days.) A Ravens defense that carried major questions in the pass-rushing department led the NFL in sacks while leading the league in scoring defense as well. Quinn re-established his value over three years in Dallas, restoring that unit as one of the game’s best. While Quinn has the Super Bowl LI collapse on his resume and went 0-for-3 in playoff berths over his final three seasons in Atlanta, Washington’s new ownership group will bet on the experienced staffer.
Although the Commanders’ search produced a number of headlines, the Falcons introduced this year’s top “what if?” storyline. The only team serious about hiring Belichick, interviewing him twice, the Falcons steered clear of the six-time Super Bowl-winning HC. While Arthur Blank went into the hiring period prepared to hire the 24-year Patriots leader, it appears other Falcons higher-ups — in an effort potentially connected to their own statuses — helped sway the owner toward the Raheem Morris hire.
Morris, whom Falcons CEO Rich McKay hired during his time as Bucs GM in the early 2000s, will make the historically rare move of returning to coach a team years after operating as its interim HC. Morris left Atlanta on good terms in 2021 and comes back after a successful run as the Rams’ DC. Though, Belichick will undoubtedly be tied to Morris during the latter’s second Atlanta stay.
It took a six-year contract for the Panthers to bring in Bucs OC Dave Canales, who parlayed his first coordinator season into a head coaching gig. The Panthers trading the No. 1 overall pick and David Tepper‘s reputation as an impulsive meddler played into Carolina’s search, but the team had long been connected — despite Frank Reich‘s struggles — to pursuing an offense-oriented leader. Carolina also pursued Johnson for a second year but did not wait to make an attempt to interview him in-person. Following his work with Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield, Canales will be charged with developing Bryce Young.
The Titans also went offense with their hire, adding five-year Bengals non-play-calling OC Brian Callahanto succeed Vrabel. Zac Taylor‘s longtime lieutenant probably would have landed a job earlier had he called plays in a Joe Burrow-piloted offense, but the Titans will turn to the 39-year-old candidate to develop Will Levis. Brian Callahan will also technically oversee his father this coming season, hiring well-regarded Browns O-line coach Bill Callahan to the same position. This will be the Callahans’ first time on the same staff.
Las Vegas and New England each went with in-house solutions. The Raiders became the first team in seven years to elevate an interim HC to the full-time position. Mark Davislistened to his players, after expressing regret about not removing Rich Bisaccia‘s interim tag in 2022. But the second-generation owner also passed on interviewing other viable candidates for the job, only going through with required interviews to comply with the Rooney Rule. While Pierce accounted himself well as a leader during the season’s second half, his experience level is quite thin compared to just about every other HC hire in modern NFL history.
Using a Rooney Rule workaround by including language in Mayo’s contract about succeeding Belichick, the Patriots also passed on a true search. Robert Kraft intervened last year, extending Mayo after the Panthers had sought a meeting, and will give the keys to the recent Patriots linebacker. Mayo’s time in coaching does not match Pierce’s, though the former has spent more time as an NFL assistant. The franchise is largely keeping the Patriot Way going, promoting from within to fill the HC position and elevating an in-house staffer (Eliot Wolf) to fill the de facto GM post, only with Belichick no longer involved.
The highest-profile hire came out of Los Angeles. The Chargers became the team to lure Jim Harbaughback to the pros. The Bolts gave the accomplished HC a $16MM salary — over five years — and signed off on allowing final say. Harbaugh has won everywhere he has been and held leverage in the form of another Michigan extension offer and a second Falcons interview being scheduled. The Bolts did not let him leave for that meeting and gave Harbaugh significant input into Tom Telesco‘s GM replacement (Joe Hortiz). Harbaugh’s final NFL snaps came with the Chargers, and after hiring three first-time HCs under Telesco, the team will make a bigger bet to turn things around.
Which team ended up doing the best with its 2024 hire? Why did Belichick fail to land a job? Will he and Vrabel be back in 2025? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts on this year’s HC market in the comments.
While a coordinator opportunity lured Steve Belichick to the college ranks for the first time, the Patriots will not lose all the Belichicks from their staff. Brian Belichick will stay with the team, ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss notes.
The team moved on from six-time Super Bowl-winning HC Bill Belichick days after the season, but successor Jerod Mayo extended an offer for both of Belichick’s sons to stay on. Steve is now officially in place as the DC at the University of Washington, but Brian will continue with the Patriots.
Brian Belichick has worked as the Pats’ safeties coach since 2020. This marked his first gig coaching a position under his father, who brought him aboard in 2016 as a scouting assistant. Steve had been with the team 12 years, moving from safeties coach — making a place for Brian — to outside linebackers assistant.
Additionally, the Patriots are set to hire T.C. McCartney as their next QBs coach, Reiss adds. Fired from the Browns on the same day the team axedAlex Van Pelt, McCartney will rejoin his previous boss in Foxborough. The Patriots named Van Pelt their new play-caller last week. McCartney, 34, spent the past two seasons as the Browns’ tight ends coach but has a past in charge of QBs. In 2019, McCartney served as the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach. The team moved on after one season, leading McCartney to Cleveland as an offensive assistant. CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reported Wednesday a McCartney hire was close.
The Patriots are also hiring Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters as their offensive line coach, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson adds. Peters will serve as the team’s next O-line coach, per ProFootballNetwork.com’s Adam Caplan. This will strip the Browns of their top two O-line coaches, with Peters’ exit coming days after the team allowed well-regarded O-line coach Bill Callahan to join son Brianon the Titans’ staff. A two-time jiu jitsu world champion, Peters saw brief NFL action in 2003 before spending time on practice squads. Peters was part of Kevin Stefanski‘s initial Browns staff back in 2020.
As the Browns transition to OC Ken Dorsey, they are starting over at most of their offensive staff positions. Firing Van Pelt, McCartney and running backs coach Stump Mitchell, Cleveland will also lose its O-line contingent.
Eliot Wolf interviewed for GM gigs in the past. It now looks like the veteran exec has one, just without the title. Mentioned earlier as the likeliest exec to be running the show in New England post-Bill Belichick, Wolf is indeed expected to be at the top of the Patriots’ front office structure this year.
The second-generation personnel man is expected to have control of the Pats’ 53-man roster, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. Wolf, 41, will work closely with new HC Jerod Mayo; when it comes to final say, however, it is expected Wolf will hold the power Belichick wielded for so long. Wolf most recently held the title of scouting director in New England, but Rapoport adds Matt Groh is expected to be in charge of the team’s college scouting.
Wolf’s influence can be felt early this offseason. The Patriots have hired ex-Packers assistants Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo, Jerry Montgomery and Alonzo Highsmith. The latter, who worked with Wolf in Green Bay and Cleveland, will hold the title of senior personnel executive, Rapoport adds.
This will represent a belated rise for Wolf, whom the Packers considered as Ted Thompson‘s GM successor in 2018. The team instead promoted Brian Gutekunst, and Wolf joined Highsmith in leaving for Cleveland. The Browns installed Wolf as their assistant GM under John Dorsey. Following Dorsey’s 2020 ouster, Wolf and Highsmith worked as consultants in Seattle. While Highsmith stayed, Wolf left to become part of the Pats’ then-Belichick-led front office.
Wolf interviewed for the Colts’ GM job back in 2017 and has been on the GM radar elsewhere in the recent past. The Bears and Vikings considered Wolf for their GM openings in 2022, respectively hiring Ryan Poles and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. The Patriots also gave Groh the title of player personnel director in 2022, keeping Wolf as their scouting director under Belichick. Following the latter’s exit, it appears Eliot Wolf will follow in his father’s footsteps as the top personnel man in an organization.
Longtime Al Davis right-hand man Ron Wolf later served as Packers GM from 1991-2001. This span included the Packers acquiring Brett Favre from the Falcons and signing Reggie White to close his much-publicized free agency tour a year later. Those pillars became all-time greats, solidifying their legacies in Green Bay while helping snap a near-30-year Super Bowl drought for Titletown. While Eliot Wolf did not join Green Bay’s front office until 2004, he worked with the organization his father transformed for nearly 15 years. Eliot climbed to the director of football operations position by 2016.
Given Belichick’s towering presence within the organization for 24 years, Wolf will naturally step into a high-pressure spot. Though, Belichick did not account himself especially well on the personnel side in recent years. The team’s post-Tom Brady decline does make the the prioritizing of continuity interesting here, but Wolf, Groh and Mayo will be in charge of leading this reconstruction effort — one that will include the No. 3 overall pick, the highest Patriots draft choice since 1993.
The Patriots replaced Bill Belichick the coach but not the GM. New England’s general manager position is vacant, pointing to a setup in which the team entrusts front office leadership to someone not holding the traditional title.
This will reunite Highsmith with longtime Packers coworker Eliot Wolf. The latter remains with the Patriots as their director of scouting. The second-generation personnel man should still be viewed, post-Belichick, as someone who wields power in the New England front office, The Athletic’s Chad Graff adds, going as far as to posit that Wolf is poised to become the Pats’ top decision-maker. SI.com’s Albert Breer also labels Wolf as the top current Pats executive.
Wolf’s influence could also be seen on the Pats’ new coaching staff. Ex-Green Bay assistant Alex Van Peltis in place as OC, while the team has also hired former Packers stafferBen McAdoo and D-line coach Jerry Montgomery. Highsmith and Wolf both worked together in Green Bay, Cleveland and Seattle. They signed on as Seahawks consultants in 2020, though Wolf eventually left to join the Patriots.
Highsmith and Wolf trekked to Ohio in 2018, when the Packers promoted Brian Gutekunst to GM. The ex-Ted Thompson staffers’ time working together in multiple cities certainly suggests Highsmith will be assigned a prominent role in New England. Highsmith, 58, left the Seahawks to become the GM of the Miami football program. Though, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson notes the Hurricanes role was a bit lesser than the title would suggest. Highsmith worked on scouting potential transfers and was involved with the ACC program’s budget, The Athletic’s Manny Navarro adds.
While the Patriots have operated without a true GM throughout the 21st century, Belichick’s exit leaves some uncertainty in the front office. Wolf, 41, is in his 20th year as an NFL exec. The son of Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, Eliot has interviewed for GM gigs in the past. He rose to the role of assistant GM under John Dorsey in Cleveland and was elevated to his present director of scouting role with the Patriots in 2022. Wolf’s experience would make his appointment as a de facto Patriots GM sensible, if, in fact, that is the direction the organization is going.
As for Highsmith, the former NFL running back — the No. 3 overall pick in 1987 — has been on the scouting side for a while and held a key role under Thompson during the 2010s. The Browns hired him as their VP of player personnel in 2018. It will be interesting to see how the Patriots reshape their front office. As of now, ex-Packers staffers look set to make a serious post-Belichick imprint in Foxborough.
