New England Patriots - NESN.com
Patriots fans tried to find the person to blame for New England’s terrible 2024 season, and many of those fingers were pointed at Eliot Wolf.
The executive vice president of player personnel was retained after Jerod Mayo was fired as head coach. Wolf is expected to lead the front office alongside new head coach Mike Vrabel, who brought in Ryan Cowden and John Streicher along with him.
Wolf opened his news conference at the NFL Scouting Combine by taking responsibility for the Patriots’ failings he played a significant role in.
“Last season, ultimately, was on me. We were 4-13,” Wolf told reporters, per the Patriots. “Just didn’t get enough done. Certainly, the free agency class didn’t live up to our expectations. The draft class, it’s too soon to tell, but we were expecting a bigger impact from some of those guys and we’re still hopeful that they’ll get to that point. We’re excited about Drake Maye. We’re excited about working with coach Vrabel. Everything we’re doing is to improve this football and getting to where we need to go. The fans, understanding those frustrations, I share those frustrations. It’s been difficult. Every hit on Jacoby (Brissett) and Drake in the season, I felt responsible for that. Just ultimately, we didn’t get enough done. …”
Wolf continued and acknowledged that the path for every team is through the trenches, hinting that will be the plan for New England’s offseason. The Patriots will have plenty of cap space and the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft to try to improve. Whether or not Wolf learned from his first season as de facto general manager will be another story.
