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Eliot Wolf

Patriots Name Eliot Wolf As Top Personnel Executive

May 11th, 2024 at 10:30pm CST by Ely Allen

The writing’s been on the wall for some time now, but the long-rumored favorite to take over lead front office duties in New England, vacated during the exit of former head coach Bill Belichick, will officially be taking the job.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network was the first to report that director of scouting Eliot Wolf, who had been acting this offseason as de facto general manager of the Patriots since Belichick’s departure, has officially been named the team’s executive vice president of player personnel.

The news may seem a bit underwhelming giving the lack of a “general manager” title, but it appears that Wolf’s promotion is essentially the Patriots’ action to fill that general manager role. New England has long been without an official general manager after owner Robert Kraft hired Belichick as head coach and name him “de facto” general manager, as well. That trend appears set to continue, according to Pelissero, as the team still won’t have a general manager in title.

That doesn’t lessen the importance of Wolf’s new position, though. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Wolf will oversee the overall direction of the player personnel department, will oversee management of the salary cap, and will be in control of the team’s 53-man active roster, all roles that are generally filled by a team’s general manager.

At 42 years old, Wolf has been in working in the NFL for 20 years. He first broke into the league as a pro personnel assistant with the Packers in 2004 before being promoted to assistant director of pro personnel in 2008 and assistant director of player personnel in 2011. A year later, Wolf was elevated to director of pro personnel before receiving promotions to director of player personnel in 2015 and director of football operations in 2016.

After two seasons in that role and 13 years in Green Bay, Wolf spent two years as the assistant general manager for the Browns under then-general manager John Dorsey. When Dorsey and the Browns parted ways, Wolf joined the Patriots in 2020 as a scouting consultant. For the last two years, Wolf has served as New England’s director of scouting. Wolf may not have been around for the era of the Patriots’ dynasty, but he does hold a Super Bowl ring from his time in Green Bay that saw seven NFC North titles and 10 playoff appearances.

Together with newly promoted head coach Jerod Mayo, Wolf helps to form a new, young top two under Kraft. Several years removed from the reign of Tom Brady and now without Belichick, it will be up to Mayo and Wolf to bring in a new era of success in New England.

2024 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

May 7th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Patriots hiring Eliot Wolf as their de facto GM after having moved on from Bill Belichick, all five teams in need of a GM have filled their post this offseason. If other teams decide to make GM changes, they’ll be added to this list.

Updated 5-11-24 (4:35pm CT)

Carolina Panthers

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

Washington Commanders

Bills’ Terrance Gray Turns Down Patriots Interview Request; Eliot Wolf Favorite For Job

May 7th, 2024 at 3:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

Seeking to install someone not named Bill Belichick atop their personnel pyramid for the first time since the 20th century, the Patriots are having some issues launching a true search. A third candidate for their top front office position has turned down an interview.

The Patriots requested a meeting with Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer, who adds Gray “politely” declined the interview. Gray’s refusal to meet with the Pats follows Bengals exec Trey Brown and veteran personnel exec Quentin Harris doing the same.

Gray, who interviewed for both the Chargers and Raiders’ GM jobs in January, has been with the Bills since 2017. Bills GM Brandon Beane hired Gray upon arrival seven years ago. Gray has held the title of Bills director of player personnel since 2022. The Bills reshuffled their front office — a process that led to the team elevating short-lived Texans GM Brian Gaine to assistant GM — following assistant GM Joe Schoen landing the Giants’ GM position two years ago.

Twenty years in as an NFL staffer, Gray logged 11 years in Minnesota under Rick Spielman and previously spent time in Kansas City as well. Gray’s presence during the Bills’ rise into an AFC power — after 17 missed playoff brackets between the Music City Miracle and the first Beane-Sean McDermott year — has naturally made him an attractive GM candidate.

The Pats appear to be having a difficult time convincing candidates this position will not ultimately go to Eliot Wolf, who has been operating as the team’s de facto GM for months. The veteran exec is viewed as the expected hire, Breer adds. This will be rather interesting, seeing as Wolf already shepherded the Patriots through a draft that produced the team’s hopeful franchise quarterback in Drake Maye. Robert Kraft letting Wolf, a Patriots staffer since March 2020, make that decision and then hiring someone else to run the team post-draft would be a strange shift for a team settling in post-Belichick.

A recent report suggested the Patriots had complied with the Rooney Rule, but the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed offers that is not currently the case. Rumored to be planning a true search for a front office boss for a while, the Patriots complied with the Rooney Rule before the draft, per Kyed, due to no singular presence being atop the FO hierarchy. Now that the Pats are planning to name a front office leader, they need to interview at least two external minority candidates for GM and HC posts. Brown, Gray and Harris are each Black, but thus far, no known interviews with any external candidates have taken place.

Bengals’ Trey Brown Declines Patriots Interview

May 6th, 2024 at 9:27pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots have kicked off their search for a “top football executive,” but one of the team’s targets has already rejected an interview. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown has declined an interview for the Patriots’ de facto GM job.

[RELATED: Patriots Begin Top Executive Search]

A move to New England would be a bit of a reunion for Brown, as the 39-year-old started his front office career as a Patriots scout. He followed that up with a long stint in Philadelphia, where he eventually climbed to the role of Eagles director of college scouting. Brown had brief stints in the AAF and XFL before joining the Bengals as a scout in 2021. Following one year with the organization, he was promoted to his current role of senior personnel executive.

Brown’s rise through the Bengals organization coincided with the team’s on-field turnaround, and the executive garnered plenty of praise for his role in the operation. He first popped up on the GM carousel in 2022 when he earned an interview for the Raiders GM job. He got another look for the Raiders job this offseason but walked away empty handed. Considering his track record, Pelissero notes that Brown will remain a top GM candidate during next year’s hiring cycle.

While the Patriots have continually signaled that they’ll eventually be conducting a search for a front office leader, today’s development still comes as a bit of a surprise. After moving on from head coach/de facto GM Bill Belichick, the team basically handed the reins to Eliot Wolf, who retained his title of director of scouting. While the new-look Patriots relied on a group effort to fill the Belichick-sized void, Wolf played a major role in the team’s free agency and draft approach. With the roster pretty much set (and the organization having made a significant decision with Drake Maye at No. 3), the team will now curiously consider another executive to lead the way.

With that said, Wolf’s presence may cause some issues for Robert Kraft and the Patriots’ top decision makers. As Ben Volin of the Boston Globe notes, the Patriots may have a tough time convincing candidates that Wolf isn’t “a lock to get the job.” For what it’s worth, Volin notes that the Patriots have already complied with the Rooney Rule in regards to their GM vacancy.

The Patriots haven’t employed a traditional GM since Kraft took over ownership of the organization. It sounds like the long-time owner is once again considering a creative approach to his front office.

Patriots Begin Top Executive Search

May 6th, 2024 at 3:09pm CST by Adam La Rose

Eliot Wolf has been at the helm of the Patriots’ front office this offseason, holding down de facto general manager duties through the draft. As expected, however, New England is prepared to bring in another important executive in the near future.

CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reports the Patriots have begun their search for a “top football executive.” Questions have been raised about whether or not a new hire would work alongside or underneath Wolf, but Jones adds the role being interviewed for is believed to be one which will “outrank all other football positions in the building.”

Wolf – brought in following his time with the Packers – received positive reviews leading up to the draft, and as such many have pointed to him being the ultimate choice for the unnamed executive position. As of the most recent update on the matter, Wolf is certainly still in the running to have his duties at the head of the personnel department carry on through the remainder of the offseason and beyond. Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald confirms that is the case as New England sends out external interview requests.

As Jones notes, there is precedent for teams waiting until well into the offseason and beyond the draft to hire a new general manager. On the other hand, the Patriots have not used a typical organizational structure during this century, with Bill Belichick operating as head coach but also the top decision-maker regarding roster building. With Belichick no longer in the fold, Jerod Mayo is handling his responsibilities on the sidelines.

In the front office, however, there is room for either a new executive to lead the personnel department or an enhanced title to be given to Wolf. The son of Ron Wolf has ushered in a new structure with respect to player evaluation and scouting for the draft, and much of his future will of course depend on how his decisions to date have been viewed by owner Robert Kraft.

New England turned down interest shown by both the Giants and Vikings in the third overall pick. By retaining the selection, the Patriots added Drake Maye as a potential franchise quarterback. That move was followed in short order by the team finalizing a monster extension with defensive tackle Christian Barmore (the largest non-Tom Brady deal in club history).

To say the least, Wolf has already made a number of critical decisions in his brief time at the helm. Kraft will thus have plenty to evaluate as he also meets with potential options to supplant Wolf. To satisfy the Rooney Rule, the Patriots’ search process must include at least two external minority candidates, and it will be interesting to see who the team reaches out to.

Patriots Still Planning To Conduct GM Interviews?

April 14th, 2024 at 10:36pm CST by Rory Parks

We have known for at least a month that, while Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf presently has final say over personnel decisions and will be operating as New England’s de facto general manager through the upcoming draft, the team plans to conduct interviews for a high-ranking front office executive after the draft is over. Those interviews could be for a GM, a hire that would shunt Wolf aside or perhaps out of the organization entirely.

As our Sam Robinson noted in the article linked above, Wolf has overhauled the prospect evaluation system that the Pats used during Bill Belichick‘s lengthy tenure, and for New England to give Wolf the power to do so only to hire a different decision-maker post-draft would be somewhat surprising. Similarly, we had heard that the Patriots, with Wolf at the helm, were adopting a “Packer-based structure” wherein the personnel department’s input is valued more highly than the head coach’s. It was also reported that Wolf was heavily involved in the head coaching process this offseason, as well as the search to fill out new HC Jerod Mayo‘s staff.

All of that points to the Patriots ultimately giving Wolf the official GM title and having the new staffer work under him, especially since the club is entrusting Wolf with the crucial task of getting the 2024 draft right (the Pats have the No. 3 overall pick and therefore have a golden opportunity to select their next franchise quarterback). Owner Robert Kraft has received positive feedback on Wolf and recently said, “I’m excited with what I’ve seen so far, and we’ll evaluate after the draft and see how that’s gone and decide where we go from there.”

On the other hand, teams like the Jets, Texans, and Bills fired GMs after the draft in the late 2010s, and the Chiefs fired John Dorsey in the summer of 2017. So it is still feasible that the Patriots go in a different direction, with Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston — on a recent episode of Tyler Dunne’s Go Long podcast — confirming that New England will conduct GM interviews after the draft. In Perry’s view, “it’s wild” that the person who is in charge of leading the Pats through this key moment in franchise history is not guaranteed to be in the GM seat once the draft is over, but that is what he has been hearing for months.

If that were to happen, the team would need to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires that two external minority candidates be interviewed for the GM post. Perry acknowledges that, as referenced above, the team could simply add a new executive to complement Wolf, rather than replace him. Still, given the apparent uncertainty of Wolf’s position, Dunne believes that the scion of Pro Football Hall of Fame exec Ron Wolf will indeed draft a quarterback with the No. 3 selection — which could be what Kraft wants — and will not trade out of the slot. Dunne also believes that UNC passer Drake Maye will be Wolf’s pick (the entire podcast episode merits a listen, particularly for Patriots fans).

Both Perry and former Vikings GM Rick Spielman (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) indicate that it would require an overpay to convince Wolf & Co. to deal the No. 3 pick rather than staying put and selecting a prospect like Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, or Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy. Perry suggests that if the Vikings — who are armed with both the Nos. 11 and 23 selections in 2024 and have been heavily connected to a trade-up endeavor — want New England’s pick, they would have to part with both of their 2024 first-rounders as well as their top choices in the 2025 and 2026 drafts. Spielman thinks three first-rounders and a second would be the “starting point” in negotiations, and that the Patriots could push for a top-tier player like receiever Justin Jefferson or left tackle Christian Darrisaw as part of the package.

Assuming the Vikings or any other club is unwilling to pay that type of price, then the Wolf-led Pats may, as has been expected, take the highest-rated QB remaining on their board once the Bears and Commanders have made their picks. There is still little clarity, though, as to who that player might be.

Latest On Patriots Front Office Hierarchy, Draft Plans

March 27th, 2024 at 6:30pm CST by Ben Levine

Since moving on from Bill Belichick, the Patriots have been operating without an official GM. Eliot Wolf reportedly has final say over personnel decisions, leading many to assume that the director of scouting was New England’s de facto general manager.

As Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald pass along, Wolf will retain his current title until after the draft, at which time owner Robert Kraft will consider a potential promotion. The owner has reportedly “received positive feedback” on Wolf, making the executive the favorite to land the top front office job.

“I’m excited with what I’ve seen so far, and we’ll evaluate after the draft and see how that’s gone and decide where we go from there,” Kraft said (via the Herald).

The son of Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf, Eliot Wolf spent more than a decade in Green Bay’s front office to begin his career. He joined the Patriots in 2020 and quickly earned a promotion to his current gig. Once the Patriots/Belichick divorce was official, Wolf participated in head coaching interviews before helping Jerod Mayo fill out his staff.

As Kyed and Callahan note, the Patriots have never had an official “general manager” since Kraft took over ownership of the organization. That was partly due to Belichick’s control over the roster, although the Patriots did employ high-ranking officials like “vice president of player personnel” and “director of player personnel.” Kraft may follow a similar route this time around, although there’s not a better time to pivot to the more traditional front office hierarchy in a post-Belichick era.

Before the organization figures out official roles for the front office, the Patriots will be focused on the draft…particularly their third-overall pick. There have been conflicting reports about the selection’s availability via trade, but it’s generally believed that New England will consider offers for the pick.

If the team does make a trade, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe says the team is still likely to select a quarterback in the draft. Moving back would surely take the Patriots out of range for a top-tier QB, but the team would still have plenty of opportunities to select someone at the position (including at their No. 34 pick).

Speaking of the top-tier quarterbacks, there were some rumblings that the Patriots weren’t enamored with UNC’s Drake Maye. However, Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that the Patriots will attend the prospect’s pro day tomorrow, and Mayo all but confirmed the team’s interest in Maye while speaking with reporters the other day.

“Drake Maye had a fantastic interview at the combine. He brings a lot of energy. You can tell he has that leadership ability,” Mayo said (via Reiss). “Also the exciting part about a guy like Drake Maye, there is really no ceiling with a guy like that. In saying that, when we’re trying to put together this roster, I know a lot of people look at the ceiling. But you also have to look at how low is the floor. I would say a guy like Drake Maye – he has a lot of room to grow. He’s a young guy. Honestly, he hasn’t played football nearly as much as these other guys. So that’s definitely something we’ve looked at, but he’s definitely going to develop.”

The Patriots have already brought in Jacoby Brissett to keep the QB seat warm, so New England is clearly intent on bringing a rookie QB along slowly. That much is known…it remains to be seen which rookie QB (and which rookie QB tier) the organization will ultimately land on.

Patriots Looking To Hire High-Ranking Front Office Staffer

March 6th, 2024 at 10:22am CST by Sam Robinson

Eliot Wolf is now running the show in New England, working as the de facto GM in the wake of Bill Belichick‘s exit. Officially, however, Wolf said his title is unchanged. He remains the Patriots’ director of scouting, and the team is looking to add another high-level piece to its front office equation.

Combine buzz pointed to the Patriots being set to interview candidates for a prominent front office role, according to MassLive.com’s Karen Guregian, Mark Daniels and Chris Mason. Wolf’s increased responsibilities have been well documented this offseason, though MassLive indicates the upcoming round of interviews — set to be conducted after the draft — could be for a GM role.

With Belichick in place as the team’s top decision-maker, the Patriots have not employed a regular GM this century. This led to the greatest 20-year run in NFL history, though Belichick’s recent performance ultimately paved a path out of Foxborough. Wolf has been running the Patriots’ pre-draft process and sat in on coaching interviews with Jerod Mayo.

It would certainly be interesting if the Patriots were prepared to make another major change after the draft, but MassLive points to Wolf eventually being named general manager. Were the Patriots to conduct an actual GM search, they would need to comply with the Rooney Rule, which mandates two external minority candidates be interviewed. Several experienced GM candidates have expressed interest in the role already, according to MassLive.

Teams in transition regularly change personnel after the draft, preferring to keep scouting staffers in their roles to preserve continuity. GM changes can take place following the draft. Teams like the Jets, Texans and Bills fired GMs after the draft in the late 2010s, with the Chiefs canning theirs (John Dorsey) in summer 2017. Wolf has been a GM candidate in the past, and given his role thus far this offseason, it would be a bit surprising to see him return to a lieutenant-type role under an outside hire.

Wolf is already making one key change before the draft. The Patriots are scrapping Belichick’s prospect evaluation system and shifting to the one the Packers used during Wolf and recent hire Alonzo Highsmith‘s Green Bay tenure, according to the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin.

“I think it makes it a lot easier for scouts to rate guys and put them in a stack of, like, ‘This guy’s the best, this guy’s the worst,’ and everything in between falls into place,” Wolf said. “It’s actually been really encouraging. The scouts have been really open to it; some guys have been here 20 years with the old system.”

Wolf said his system will account for value better than the one the Patriots had been using under Belichick, who had launched his system back when he was in place as the Browns’ HC in the early 1990s. Scouts should also expected to have more input than they did under Belichick, per the Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi.

It would surprise to see Wolf given the power to overhaul the Patriots’ grading system only to then hire a different decision-maker to head up matters, so the upcoming hire may well be to work under Wolf than vice versa. But a new voice could soon be joining Wolf and director of player personnel Matt Groh in the Pats’ front office.

Patriots Notes: Covington, Brown, Wolf

February 21st, 2024 at 5:54pm CST by Ben Levine

Considering New England’s unconventional approach to their defensive coaching staff in recent years, it was uncertain how much control new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington would have on Jerod Mayo‘s staff. It sounds like Covington will have full authority over his defense, as the coach revealed to reporters today that he’ll be the defensive play-caller this season (via Karen Guregian of MassLive).

It had been years since Bill Belichick employed a traditional DC, with Mayo and Steve Belichick most recently splitting the unofficial role. The younger Belichick was the one calling defensive plays, but he won’t be sticking around New England after taking the DC job at the University of Washington. Mayo himself could have been a candidate for the defensive play-caller role, but it sounds like he’ll be leaning on his DC during games.

This will be Covington’s first time serving in either of those two roles in the NFL. Following a one-season stint as Eastern Illinois’ DC, he’s served in a variety of roles on New England’s coaching staff.

On the other side of the ball, Troy Brown will be sticking around as the Patriots’ wide receivers coach (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald). The long-time Patriots WR transitioned to coaching following his playing career, and he’s guided New England’s wideouts since the 2021 campaign. With Mayo revamping the coaching staff, it was uncertain if Brown would be retained in his current role.

Elsewhere in New England, there’s been a bit of confusion surrounding who’s actually leading the front office. Eliot Wolf is expected to control the 53-man roster for at least the time being, and it sounds like the executive had some extra responsibilities while Mayo filled his coaching staff. The new Patriots head coach told reporters that Wolf participated in all of the coaching interviews this offseason (via Kyed).

The son of Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf, Eliot Wolf spent more than a decade with Green Bay before joining New England’s operation. His experience with the Packers has clearly been reflected on the coaching staff, as the team has brought in ex-Packers assistants like Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo, Jerry Montgomery and Alonzo Highsmith.

Patriots Notes: Bourne, Front Office, Brown

February 12th, 2024 at 9:33pm CST by Ben Levine

Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne tore his ACL at the end of October, an injury that had especially poor timing considering his impending free agent. However, the wideout has made it clear that he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery, and he’s eyeing a return to New England in 2024.

Speaking to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the receiver said he’s expecting to be ready for the start of next season. Bourne also discussed his upcoming unrestricted free agency, with the veteran stating his desire to stick with the Patriots.

“I want to come back [to New England],” Bourne said. “That is a goal of mine. I love being a Patriot — it’s a great environment for a person like me. Being a Patriot helped me grow into the player I am today. I’m thankful for the organization, but you never know. I’ve been in free agency before and I didn’t know what would happen. And I don’t know now.”

After spending the first four seasons of his career with the 49ers, Bourne inked a three-year deal worth up to $22.5MM with the Patriots. The wideout had an up-and-down three years in New England. He finished 2021 with career highs in receptions (55), receiving yards (800), and touchdowns (five). He found himself in the doghouse in 2022, but he rebounded in 2023, averaging a career-high 50.8 yards per game prior to his injury.

The wideout now has to navigate both his injury recovery and his impending free agency. Bourne told Reiss that he has a physical therapist living with him, and his current focus is on strengthening his quadriceps and legs in support of his knee.

“I was in the best shape of my life and the knee slowed me down a lot,” Bourne said. “It’s annoying to have someone always on me and bugging me, but I know what I need to get back to where I was when I got hurt. I’m embracing it now.”

More notes out of New England…

  • While it’s uncertain if the Patriots will make a move at general manager, Eliot Wolf is expected to control the 53-man roster for the time being. Reiss has provided a bit more insight, noting Wolf’s ascension is a sign the Patriots are focusing on more of a “Packer-based structure” to their front office. Wolf, the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf, spent more than a decade with Green Bay, and Reiss believes the Patriots are pivoting to a system that values the personnel department’s input vs. the head coach’s final say (a tactic that was impossible with Bill Belichick at the helm). Reiss notes that Wolf was also heavily involved with the head coaching process, and he subsequently worked with Jerod Mayo to fill out the coaching staff.
  • Speaking of the front office, the Patriots have added a familiar face to their operation. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 in Houston, the Patriots have hired executive Bobby Brown for a front office role. Brown previously served as the Patriots associate director of football administration, but he left for the Texans this past season to work alongside his brother, Andrew Brown.
  • The Patriots continue to add to their coaching staff. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the team has hired Drew Wilkins as their outside linebackers coach. Wilkins spent more than a decade on the Ravens coaching staff, where he worked alongside current Patriots star linebacker Matthew Judon. Wilkins spent the past two seasons as the Giants OLBs coach, but he was let go following New York’s overhaul of the defensive coaching staff.
  • Former Patriots WR Troy Brown has spent the past three seasons as New England’s receivers coach, but with his contract having expired and a new coaching staff in place, his future with the organization is in doubt. Reiss writes that Brown could be one of the few holdovers to stick around in 2024. Alex Van Pelt is now in place as the Patriots offensive coordinator, so there’s a chance the new hire decides to pursue his own WRs coach.
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