Alex Van Pelt

AFC East Rumors: Van Pelt, Jets, Dolphins

January 15th, 2025 at 1:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

Both the Giants and Vikings submitted viable offers to the Patriots for the No. 3 overall pick last year, with each NFC franchise eyeing Drake Maye. Each would have netted the Pats an additional second-rounder in last year’s draft and a first this year. New York’s proposal would have given New England this year’s third overall choice, but Maye now serves as the Pats’ franchise centerpiece. Ultimately, then-acting GM Eliot Wolf and ownership stayed and picked Maye. Though, there appeared to be some supporters of accepting a trade-down offer. At the time, it is believed OC Alex Van Pelt was among those who viewed the Pats’ roster as too deficient to pass on moving down, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin notes.

While it may not be certain Mike Vrabel moves on from Van Pelt, the OC effectively confirmed this by telling friends he had been fired following the team’s Week 18 game. This came despite the organization being pleased with how he had helped develop Maye. Vrabel’s next play-caller’s chief assignment will be elevating Maye to another level in 2025.

Here is the latest from the AFC East:

In December, Davante Adams was noncommittal about his Jets future. After all, the player responsible for him being traded to New York — Aaron Rodgers — appears on his way out. After the season, Adams did not confirm (via ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini) he would be following Rodgers out the door, but he said staying with the team post-Rodgers would depend on a few factors. Adams’ Raiders-built contract runs through 2026. Allen Lazard was more enthusiastic about staying with the Jets. The lower-profile Rodgers come-with guy at receiver, Lazard went from being a healthy scratch at a point in 2023 to totaling 530 yards and six touchdowns this season. Lazard said (via Cimini) he wants to stay and later retire a Jet. Though, his four-year, $44MM contract would produce $11MM in savings if removed from the payroll via a post-June 1 release.
Calais Campbell said before season’s end he was not closing the door on playing an 18th NFL season, and the accomplished defensive lineman noted after the Dolphins‘ year wrapped (via ESPN.com’s Marcel Louis-Jacques) that he will consider an age-39 slate. Campbell notched five sacks, and his 12 tackles for loss were his most since 2018. The Dolphins had him on their books for just $2MM this season, and after they nearly traded him back to the Ravens at the deadline, it stands to reason the Miami alum will look into landing with a contender soon.
Elsewhere on the Dolphins’ roster, both Jaelan Phillips and Austin Jackson are expected to be fine for the 2025 opener, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson tweets. Phillips, who suffered an Achilles tear in 2023 and a partially torn ACL this season, is going into his fifth-year option campaign. Jackson, who suffered a meniscus tear, is tied to a three-year, $36MM extension. Swing tackle Kendall Lamm is almost definitely set to depart in free agency, Jackson adds. The Dolphins’ Patrick Paul second-round draft choice had pointed the veteran elsewhere. That said, Grier said the Dolphins “are going to have to” invest in O-linemen this offseason. While the team has three higher-end tackle investments under contract, its interior situation is less solidified.
Staying with O-lines, Vrabel confirmed (via the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi) the Patriots‘ front will be a priority this offseason. This echoes a recent report that suggested OL and WR would be New England’s top target areas. The Pats struggled up front, with the loss of David Andrews and the left tackle carousel being among the issues. Vrabel leaned on the ground game in Tennessee, largely because of Derrick Henry‘s presence, but the Pats have by far the most cap space exiting the season. With questions existing just about everywhere outside of Michael Onwenu‘s presence (and even his position has fluctuated), allocating considerable resources up front seems likely as the Pats attempt to protect Maye.

More On Jerod Mayo’s Firing: Succession Plan, Hiring Process, Stevenson Benching

January 9th, 2025 at 6:02pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots’ succession plan for Bill Belichick clearly didn’t go as planned, as Jerod Mayo was let go after only one ugly season at the helm. However, there were cracks in the organization’s overall plan before Robert Kraft even named Mayo as his head coach.

[RELATED: Patriots Fire Jerod Mayo]

According to Chad Graff of The Athletic, Kraft’s literal succession timeline intended for Mayo to take over in 2025. When Kraft instituted his plan in 2023, he planned to give Belichick two more seasons (allowing the coach to break the all-time wins record) before Mayo would take over the gig.

That obviously didn’t come to fruition, as Belichick’s fractured relationship with the Patriots led to his ouster after that 2023 campaign. Before that, Belichick failed to mentor his successor like the organization expected (Graff notes that Belichick cut off communication with a number of coaches during his final season in New England). So, when Mayo was suddenly thrust into the HC role, he didn’t have the prerequisite mentorship that ownership had hoped for.

That could partly explain Mayo’s unusual approach to his head coaching role. The newly-named head coach first struggled to fill his coaching staff, although he curiously avoided one solution by offering incumbent defensive play-caller Steve Belichick a demotion (which the younger Belichick refused, leading to him taking a DC job at Washington). Andrew Callahan and Doug Kyed of The Boston Herald report that some OC candidates were left unimpressed with Mayo’s approach during the interview process, leading to the team opting for their last interviewee in Alex Van Pelt.

Then, once the season began, Mayo reportedly struggled to discipline his players, and Graff passes along an anecdote where Mayo played cards with the players during a plane ride following a loss. Mayo also struggled with some of the seemingly simple tasks that are required from a head coach. For instance, The Boston Herald duo point to Rhamondre Stevenson‘s uncertain status in Week 17. Mayo intended to bench the RB for fumbling issues, and he communicated the lineup change to Van Pelt. The OC never relayed the message to running backs coach Taylor Embree, leading to Stevenson taking the field with the starting offense. Mayo later covered for his coordinator, but there were clear cracks in communication.

While Mayo has been the only Patriots leader to lose their job, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf has also drawn his fair share of criticism. The front office leader took some accountability for the team’s disappointing 2024 showing while admitting that some of the Patriots’ younger players didn’t develop as expected (specifically WRs Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker).

“I would say that I guess personally, what I was expecting is maybe a little bit more internal development, which is a good lesson certainly heading into next year. And that you can’t always rely on that,” Wolf said (via The Herald). “The rookie receivers didn’t have it really that much for us.”

Coaching Notes: Bears, Jaguars, Allen, Patriots, Lake

January 9th, 2025 at 3:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

GM-centric workflow models are more common in the modern NFL than those that start with head coaches, though some teams still have their sideline leaders atop the personnel pyramid. The Bears are not one of them, and it does not sound like they intend to change that after this search concludes. Chairman George McCaskey confirmed (via the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs) the team’s next HC will still report to GM Ryan Poles, who will report to president Kevin Warren.

This will close the door on a coach power play or a change in which both the Bears’ HC and GM would report to Warren. The top-down model being non-negotiable could affect the franchise’s search to some degree, though the Bears have used this setup for a while. Additionally, the Bears’ first round of interviews will be entirely virtual, per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. This applies to unattached coaches, who are not bound by league rules mandating virtual meetings before January 20, the day after the divisional round wraps.

Here is the latest from the coaching carousel:

A Monday report did not make it clear if the Patriots would fire Alex Van Pelt along with Jerod Mayo, but the veteran OC apparently told friends shortly after the Bills matchup he and the HC were each fired, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin notes. This is not yet official, but coordinator statuses can go quiet as teams search for new HCs. Mayo had criticized Van Pelt during the season, leading to hot seat rumors. But the play-caller had drawn praise for his work with Drake Maye. The Patriots should expect plenty of staff turnover, the Globe’s Nicole Yang adds. That is generally the norm, but the Pats retained several staffers following their Bill Belichick-to-Mayo transition.
Ben Johnson is set to go through a four-pack of interviews between Friday and Saturday, as summits with the Patriots, Raiders (both Friday) and Bears and Jaguars (Saturday) loom. Buzz around the league points to Johnson being intrigued by the Jacksonville job, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes, but the in-demand assistant might want his own GM. The Lions’ OC has been notoriously picky when it comes to a job, and although more noise has come about him taking one during this cycle, Trent Baalke being retained could throw a wrench into the Jags’ process. It would seem unlikely if the Jags allowed Baalke to remain GM if Johnson preferred that not remain the case, and a Wednesday report indicated the team could be open to kicking Baalke to another role. That said, Fowler adds some among the Jags are skeptical a coach could run a power play to boot Baalke from his four-year post.
Not much has come out about Dennis Allen‘s future post-New Orleans, but the recently fired Saints leader may have another DC chance again soon. The Colts have come up as an interested party, Fowler adds, noting the three-year Saints HC should be a candidate for the Indy DC job. The team has yet to conduct an interview, but Allen has been either a head coach or DC for most of the past 14 years. The Saints had played well defensively leading up to this season, with Allen at the helm when the team repaired a porous unit in the late 2010s.
No Falcons coordinator changes have come out, but some in the league are keeping an eye on their DC situation, Fowler notes. Raheem Morris did not definitively endorse Jimmy Lake for a second year. Morris brought the former Washington Huskies HC with him from the Rams’ staff, doing the same with OC Zac Robinson. After improving under one-and-done DC Ryan Nielsen, the Falcons dropped to 23rd in scoring defense and yards allowed under Lake, a first-time NFL coordinator.

Patriots To Retain Eliot Wolf, Front Office Staff

January 6th, 2025 at 6:09pm CST by Ben Levine

While the Patriots are set to revamp their coaching staff, it sounds like the front office will be staying intact. During his press conference today, owner Robert Kraft revealed that executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and his staff will be sticking around for the 2025 campaign (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald). Wolf and top front office executive Alonzo Highsmith will also be involved in the team’s head coaching search (via Kyed).

As the Patriots navigated a post-Bill Belichick era, they chose Wolf as the leader of their new-look front office. The executive did have one major hit during his first year at the helm, with third-overall pick Drake Maye appearing to be a foundational piece. However, the front office drew criticism for the rest of their draft class, and Kraft acknowledged that the team needs stronger performances from rookie-contract players if they hope to return to contention.

“Our drafts have not been good for a while,” Kraft said (via Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). “If you want to compete long term and be good in this league, you’ve got to have good drafts because those rookie contracts allow you to go out and get the people you need to surround people. It looks like we lucked out; we maybe have two quarterbacks. But I think we’ll hopefully see a big improvement this year.”

While the likes of Wolf and Highsmith are expected to keep their jobs, Albert Breer of SI.com expects there to still be significant changes to the front office operations. After Belichick was responsible for running so many aspects of the front office for years, the organization was left with an antiquated approach when the dust settled following the iconic coach’s ouster. Breer opines that the Krafts put the front office at a disadvantage by not providing the same resources as other NFL teams, with the writer suggesting that ownership could look to “add elements of analytics and sport science” to their operations.

While many of these subtle changes will take place behinds the scenes, the Patriots’ search for their next head coach will be very public. Ownership is expected to be heavily involved in the search, as are the aforementioned front office executives. Breer notes that the team isn’t expected to hire a search firm to assist in the process.

As we await word on the team’s interview process, we’ll starting to hear some details about Mayo’s sudden firing, with Tom E. Curran of NBCSports Boston noting that the final four games of the season played a significant role in the decision. Curran says the past month was “untenable,” and while the team didn’t initially anticipate moving on from their first-year head coach, the “disorganization became too much to take.”

Kraft himself told reporters that he went back and forth on the decision over the past month. Ultimately, the owner believed the squad showed regression throughout the 2024 campaign, with Kraft citing the season-opening win over the Bengals as the high point of the year. Kraft also revealed that Mayo didn’t know about his impending firing prior to the season finale; the head coach ended up guiding his squad to victory while also compromising the team’s chances at the first-overall pick (links via Kyed).

While a new head coach will presumably look to bring on their own staff, there’s still a chance a few key assistants stick around. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt didn’t get a whole lot of production from his unit in 2024, but the coach did earn praise for his handling of Maye’s development. If Van Pelt is ultimately canned by the Patriots, Breer believes the coach could land back in Cleveland, where he served as OC between 2020 and 2023.

Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt On Hot Seat?

January 2nd, 2025 at 8:51pm CST by Ben Levine

Jerod Mayo is expected to make it to his second season as Patriots head coach, but it’s sounding like the same can’t be said for New England’s offensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Alex Van Pelt is considered a “potential one-and-done” with the Patriots.

Drake Maye‘s occasional flashes have been the only bright spot for the Patriots offense in 2024, with the unit ranking towards the bottom of the league in scoring and yardage. While Van Pelt has earned some praise for his work with the rookie QB, he’s also drawn plenty of criticism for his uninspiring play calling and a lack of development elsewhere on the roster.

In fact, team owner Robert Kraft and his son, team president Jonathan Kraft, were recently spotted criticizing the offensive play calling, a clear indication that the OC could be on the hot seat. At the very least, the Patriots are expected to make some changes to their offensive staff, per Fowler.

Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal shares a similar sentiment, writing that Van Pelt will likely be the organization’s “sacrificial lamb” following a dismal overall season. Giardi lauded the coordinator for his rare accountability during the 2024 campaign, and Van Pelt even acknowledged that he could be on the hot seat following a rough first season with the Patriots.

“This is a business. We all signed up for this. When we win three games, it’s tough,” he said. “The thing that I can hang my hat on is that this team played hard. There have not been any games where they have not put out their full effort. That’s impressive. It’s easy for a lot of teams, and I’ve been around teams that are out of the playoffs and kind of just cruise to the end. We’re going to try to finish strong.”

Van Pelt mostly made a name for himself as a QB coach, including a stint as Aaron Rodgers‘ coach in Green Bay between 2014 and 2017. The veteran coach had a four-year stint as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator, and he was a somewhat surprising casualty last year despite the Browns finishing top-10 in points scored. He subsequently caught on with Mayo’s new staff in New England, but there’s a chance he could be looking for a new gig for the second-straight offseason.

Patriots Rumors: Staff, Stevenson, Brissett, Baker

December 25th, 2024 at 8:53am CST by Ely Allen

It’s been a rough season for the Patriots in Year 1 of the Jerod Mayo-era. At 3-12, New England is staring a 3-14 season squarely in the face with remaining games against the Bills and Chargers. The struggles have come at every level of the game: the offense ranks 30th in points and 29th in yards; the defense hasn’t fared much better, ranking 24th in points allowed and 21st in yards allowed; and New England has turned in pedestrian numbers on special teams, as well.

When all phases of the game are points of weakness, and player development is becoming an issue, the finger tends to get pointed at the coaching staff. Mayo seemed to admit as much in a recent interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” on which he talked about a lot of “checklists…to go through” including “what players you want to keep around” and “what coaches you want to keep around.”

The obvious considerations that will need to be made are concerning offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. According to Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, team owner Robert Kraft and his son, team president Jonathan Kraft, were seen in Week 15 seemingly criticizing the play-calling on offense. On defense, the Patriots have had few answers since losing linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley to a season-ending injury early in the year.

Another coach with obvious question marks is the son of the former head coach in New England, safeties coach Brian Belichick. Belichick’s father, Bill, has accepted the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina, and his brother, Steve, is planning to join him from the University of Washington. If Brian also leaves to join his father, that will open up one hole on the coaching staff.

Here are a few other rumors coming out of New England:

For the second time this season, it sounds like the Patriots will be considering benching starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson in favor of Antonio Gibson, per Kyed. Fumbles have become a big issue for Stevenson in his fourth year of NFL play. Over his first three seasons, Stevenson combined for seven fumbles with the team losing only three of them. This season alone, Stevenson has matched both numbers with three lost fumbles on seven total. Gibson has had plenty of issues with fumbles in the past, as well. In his four years in Washington, Gibson fumbled the ball 12 times with eight lost to the other team. In 2021 alone, he lost four fumbles on six total. This year, though, on 115 touches, Gibson has only fumbled twice with the Patriots recovering both of them. Gibson didn’t do much with his starting opportunities earlier in the season, but a message was surely sent to Stevenson about his ball-protection. With the season largely out of hand, it seems a message would be the purpose of this benching, as well.
The Patriots have seemingly already moved on from veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett in favor of rookie No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. Luckily for the team, if New England wasn’t quite pleased with Brissett’s services as a backup or mentor to Maye, or at least is not eager to renew those services, they will have the opportunity to move on. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, when initially negotiating a contract with Brissett, the Patriots offered him a two-year deal. Brissett, reportedly, preferred a one-year contract, giving him the opportunity to see how the season played out. With Maye set as the starter for the foreseeable future, both sides will be able to explore other options as Brissett heads for free agency.
Rookie fourth-round receiver Javon Baker suffered a concussion in a car accident earlier in December, per Kyed. According to Mark Daniels of MassLive, Baker’s car was t-boned, and he ended up in the hospital. It was a scary incident for the 22-year-old, but he was cleared to practice and appeared in the team’s next game.

Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt Addresses Decision To Start Drake Maye

October 10th, 2024 at 5:28pm CST by Adam La Rose

It was long expected the Patriots would turn to Drake Maye as their starting quarterback at some point this season. The rookie will get his first regular season start in Week 6 as the team looks to rebound from an anticipated but underwhelming showing on offense so far.

Jacoby Brissett served as New England’s starter through the first five weeks of the campaign, operating offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt‘s scheme while Maye developed in practice. The latter handled a larger-than-usual workload with the first-team offense during the week, and New England’s coaching staff was impressed with his progress over time. With the Patriots failing to repeat the success of Week 1’s upset win, this week’s move came as little surprise.

“Offensively, we’re not where we want to be from a production standpoint, especially in the pass game,” Van Pelt said (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald). “I think that that leads to some of that decision, and also the fact that to see [Maye’s] growth and development over those weeks of practice and what he’s put on on the practice field, I think the two of those combined.”

Van Pelt added he was “on board” with head coach Jerod Mayo‘s decision to bench Brissett. The 31-year-old took a one-year deal in free agency to return to New England (and reunite with Van Pelt), but it was widely known his time atop the depth chart would be temporary. Brissett has yet to throw for 170 yards in a game this year, and he has accounted for only two touchdowns. The team’s low-scoring loss to the Dolphins in Week 5 represented another poor showing on offense, but that contest alone was not responsible for the QB change.

As could be expected, Brissett expressed disappointment with the decision to install Maye (h/t the Boston Globe’s Christopher Price). If the move winds up being permanent, Brissett will head to free agency in 2025 without having helped his market value to a large extent. As the Patriots continue to deal with offensive line issues, however, Maye might end up struggling with sacks as Brissett did during his time as starter. A reversal of this week’s change would not threaten the No. 3 pick’s long-term standing in the organization, but it would allow Brissett to offer a veteran presence in a season which does not feature high expectations.

Patriots QB Drake Maye To Enter Camp As Backup?

July 6th, 2024 at 4:13pm CST by Ely Allen

Since selecting North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick of this year’s draft, the Patriots have made it clear that they will take their time before giving Maye the keys to the offense. Part of that decision is due to the acquisition of veteran backup Jacoby Brissett, who, in an eight-year roundtrip that has included stops in Indianapolis, Miami, Cleveland, and Washington, has 48 starts to his name. Another factor is simply that it’s difficult to start in the NFL as a rookie, especially with a new offensive system being installed.

Along with two new frontrunners at quarterback, the Patriots have brought in former Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt to call plays for the first time in his career. After about 12 years as a position coach (mostly mentoring quarterbacks), Van Pelt got his first coordinator job in 2020 under head coach Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. With Stefanski calling plays, Van Pelt was unable to gain that play-calling experience, calling the offense only once in a Wild Card win over the Steelers, a game which Stefanski missed.

In his first season actually getting to run an NFL offense, Van Pelt has committed to bringing the West Coast offense to New England, per Ben Volin of The Boston Globe. As a coach in the NFL, Van Pelt has had a multitude of experience working for West Coast disciples like Mike McCarthy, Zac Taylor, and Stefanski. Joined by offensive assistant Ben McAdoo (another student of McCarthy) and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, who studied under Kyle Shanahan, New England is now the home of multiple offensive coaches with heaps of experience coaching West Coast offenses.

Implementing a new system is going to be a difficult undertaking for the entire offense, let alone Maye. Van Pelt claimed his goal was to make it through the entire offensive playbook in spring practices, per Volin, and to his credit, the new play caller claims that they were able to get through it twice.

Even with two run-throughs in the spring, though, Maye still has a long way to go. In addition to learning a completely new playbook, the rookie will need to make the regular adjustments required of a rookie making the jump to NFL starter. Maye will need to become accustomed to the operations of running an offense, including calling plays in the huddle and communicating audibles. He’ll also need to improve his footwork and work at reading NFL defenses, a much taller task than doing so at the collegiate level.

Because of all the work still required of Maye before he’s ready to lead an NFL offense, the return of Brissett to New England is significant. Two years ago, Brissett served as a stand-in starter while the Browns waited from Deshaun Watson to return from suspension. He also started two nearly full seasons for the Colts after an injury to and surprise retirement from Andrew Luck in two different seasons. His time with five different teams also gives him a litany of experience learning new offenses, as well. Not to mention that his 11 starts for Cleveland came under Van Pelt and Stefanski, making him already well-versed in a similar playbook.

Though the combination of the work to be done by Maye and the experience of Brissett seems to keep Maye out of the starting job for now, Maye has already impressed early. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Maye has seemingly surpassed Bailey Zappe on the depth chart and should come into training camp as QB2. There’s still work to be done as the Patriots wisely take their time ensuring Maye is ready for the NFL, but with the work to be done, the team seems satisfied with where they’re at for now.

No Timetable For Patriots QB Drake Maye To Enter Starting Lineup

June 5th, 2024 at 7:48pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots are hoping they found their QB of the future in third-overall pick Drake Maye. However, after signing veteran Jacoby Brissett as a seat-warmer, the organization isn’t in any rush to throw their rookie quarterback into the fire. While speaking with reporters, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said there’s no specific timetable to elevate Drake into the QB1 role.

“I think you have to take that as it comes,” Van Pelt said (via ESPN’s Mike Reiss). “There is no timetable. Jacoby, again, is our starter and he’s playing excellent football for us in the spring. And Drake is coming on. So until that changes, we’re going to stick with what we got.

“We always talk about earning your reps around here. So as he continues to grow and have successful practices and start stacking those, then we can think about moving him up the depth chart. It’s a process. It’s a marathon. We’re going to take our time and do it the right way.”

As the OC noted, there are still some skills that Maye has to develop before he can enter the starting lineup. While the rookie has quickly adapted to the team’s footwork requirements, he’s still a work in progress when it comes to “calling plays from the huddle.” While there is certainly enthusiasm for Maye’s inevitable ascension into the starting lineup, Van Pelt opines that this developmental time will only help the player’s long-term outlook.

“I think of it as a marathon over a sprint,” Van Pelt said. “You just don’t go out and run a marathon. You have to train properly for a marathon. It’s the same with a quarterback,” he said, when asked the key tenets of developing a rookie at the position.

“There’s a process. We follow that process. We trust that process. You can’t just stick a guy out there and expect him to be successful without the proper training. We’re making moves in the right direction.”

The coaching staff will naturally have a major say in Maye’s development, with Van Pelt and new head coach Jerod Mayo having significant influence over the decision. The OC revealed that the recently promoted Eliot Wolf, who is serving as New England’s executive vice president of player personnel, will also be involved with the decision.

Jonathan Kraft Heavily Involved In Patriots’ Draft Plans; Michael Penix Jr. On Radar

April 22nd, 2024 at 5:07pm CST by Sam Robinson

Patriots preparations for their previous 24 drafts featured no questions as to who ran the show. As the franchise pushed its Super Bowl count to 10 and championship number to six, it relied on Bill Belichick to make the call. While some memorable misses took place, the legendary HC certainly fared well in this role as the team regularly built stout defenses around Tom Brady.

This year, the Pats enter the draft with an unusual setup. Eliot Wolf is in place as the de facto GM, but the team is planning to conduct interviews after the draft. It would be quite odd — given the decision the team faces at No. 3 overall — if ownership would consider giving someone else final say post-draft after letting Wolf potentially choose a long-term QB option. Days away from the draft, a quarterback pick is indeed the expectation for the suddenly rebuilding squad.

As the Patriots consider a potential trajectory-altering pick at 3, another key voice has emerged alongside Wolf. Patriots president Jonathan Kraft is “heavily involved” in the team’s pre-draft decision-making process, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. The son of owner Robert Kraft, Jonathan has been with the organization since his father acquired it in the 1990s. While Russini adds Wolf is running the show, the younger Kraft’s involvement obviously generates questions.

Owners regularly intervene in draft decisions, though a clearly defined hierarchy — one that features football-ops personnel leading the way — is certainly the best path for an organization to take regarding high-stakes decisions. Jonathan Kraft playing a major role would mark a significant change for the Patriots, who obviously relied on Belichick for decades. Wolf’s opportunity coming with heavy ownership intervention would be an interesting start to his GM run — if that should indeed commence — with the Patriots would be interesting, as this is the second-generation personnel man’s first opportunity to lead a front office.

As for which way the Patriots are going at No. 3, signs point to them keeping the pick and drafting a quarterback. Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy have fans in the building, per SI.com’s Albert Breer, continuing a theme for a team that will probably see both the North Carolina and Michigan prospects on the board when it goes on the clock. The Pats brought a large contingent to Maye’s pro day. In addition to Wolf and Jerod Mayo, Breer adds OC Alex Van Pelt, senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo, QBs coach T.C. McCartney and front office staffers Alonzo Highsmith, Matt Groh, Pat Stewart and Camren Williams also have input in this pivotal draft decision.

New England has also made it known it would be willing to trade the pick, but as of late last week, no offers strong enough are believed to have emerged. That said, Michael Penix Jr. fans reside in the organization. Penix is not expected to be a top-three pick, pointing to the Washington-developed southpaw being in play if the Pats pull the trigger on trading down. In fact, Breer adds the Patriots’ late Penix visit came about because they could be interested in nabbing him following a trade-down maneuver.

Some NFL personnel believe the Patriots will, in fact, trade down, Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline adds. If the Patriots move back, it adds a significant wrinkle to this year’s top five. But if the Vikings or Broncos — both closely connected to moving up for a passer — make a strong enough offer the Pats agree to slide out of the top 10, Pauline adds a belief around the NFL exists indicating the Pats would then select Penix in the middle of Round 1. Our Ely Allen detailed the former Indiana and Washington starter’s prospect profile recently.

The Vikings hold No. 11 overall; the Broncos sit at No. 12. Those spots could be notable, as the Raiders — who are believed to be interested in Penix — sit at No. 13. The Patriots taking this route would bring controversy, given their chances of bringing Maye or McCarthy to Foxborough at 3. But they would add at least a 2025 first-round pick (and almost definitely more) if they moved the pick to Minnesota or Denver. The Giants are also believed to be interested in moving up, with Maye-New York buzz increasing over the past several days. The Pats would not collect as much if they dropped from 3 to 6, however.

Jonathan Kraft is believed to have advised against his father moving on from Belichick after the 2022 season, but the team powered forward with that separation — amid a feud between the accomplished HC and Robert Kraft — after a 4-13 season. Whichever way the Patriots go in this year’s first round, it certainly seems like the younger Kraft will have a notable say in the matter.

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