Front-office quarterback Eliot Wolf deserves share of credit for Patriots’ one-season turnaround into playoff team
Few gave this odd couple a chance. Wolf’s role was mocked on overwrought sports talk radio airwaves as a sinecure, not a signer of players. But Vrabel, Wolf, and their lieutenants banded together to put Fort Foxborough back on the football map.
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“Look, the last three years prior to this year have been difficult for a lot of different reasons, and I just wanted to get back to a place where we could do things the right way and try to win,” said Wolf, who joined the organization in 2020 as a scouting consultant following stints in Cleveland and Green Bay. “Really, it’s all about winning, and it’s easy, for me at least, to put your ego aside and contribute to a winning program, which I really, from Day One — even before Day One — I guess in the interview, I thought Vrabel gave us a chance to win.”
Historically, these shotgun marriages founder. However, the words Wolf uttered in March at the NFL Scouting Combine have proven true: “There’s not going to be Mike’s guys or Eliot’s guys. There are going to be Patriots guys.”
Vrabel is a considerable coaching upgrade over Jerod Mayo, but an AI programmed with the coaching acumen of Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, and Bill Belichick wasn’t getting last year’s collection of talent to double-digit wins.
That was impossible with free agent whiffs, re-signing too many players from 2023’s 4-13 club, plus a draft class as barren as the Bonneville Salt Flats, outside of Maye.
This is a much different roster, reshaped by Wolf, Vrabel, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher, and senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith.
With a full season of the scouting process and principles Wolf adopted from his time in Green Bay, instead of rushing to superimpose them on compiled draft reports, the Patriots benefited. All 11 members of this year’s draft class have been gameday actives.
Will Campbell measured up to plug a gaping hole at left tackle. Running back TreVeyon Henderson has emerged as the Jahmyr Gibbs-ian threat he needed to be to justify being taken in the second round, leading the team in rushing yards (911) and touchdowns (10) while averaging 5.1 yards per carry, top five among qualifying running backs. Left guard Jared Wilson is part of an overhaul that saw four-fifths of the offensive line turned over. Safety Craig Woodson topped the team in defensive snaps. After a shaky start, kicker Andy Borregales has shown shades of Stephen Gostkowski.
Armed with the most cap space in the NFL (approximately $126 million) and a clear vision, the Patriots brought in a transformative free agent class that rivals the one Vrabel was part of as a player here in 2001. Stefon Diggs, Morgan Moses, Garrett Bradbury, and Mack Hollins on offense and defenders Milton Williams, Harold Landry III, Robert Spillane, and Carlton Davis III have all turned out to be significant upgrades.
Just as important as their on-field production is the leadership that group has demonstrated. That was one of the areas Wolf identified after last season’s 4-13 record. He said he appreciates this group for providing an example of professionalism.
Mike Vrabe (left) and Eliot Wolf (right) brought in a free agent group to help on the field and in the locker room.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Every turnaround needs a little luck, too.
Wolf and Co. had struck out obtaining a No. 1 wideout. Wolf’s 2024 pledge about “weaponizing the offense” was the Foxborough version of the Red Sox’ “full throttle” declaration.
Diggs bounced back from a torn ACL last year with Houston to become the first Patriots receiver to post a 1,000-yard season this decade, turning out to be a better fit than Calvin Ridley, Brandon Aiyuk, or Chris Godwin. He’s New England’s football version of Alex Bregman. (The blemish is the charges that Diggs is facing for allegedly assaulting his personal chef.)
“Looking back on some of those things it was really fortunate that we ended up with Stefon,” said Wolf. “I think just his competitive spirit, drive, and really willingness to go make a play is something that this team really needed early on. They followed his lead.”
Of course, no one’s lead has been followed more than Vrabel’s.
Wolf, the son of Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf, is a polar opposite personality-wise from the barrel-chested, boisterous, trenchant Vrabel. That’s in part why their partnership has worked. Vrabel is direct. Wolf is circumspect.
“That’s one of the things that I really enjoy about him, it’s all genuine,” said Wolf. “The players are the first ones that will see through bull[crap], and he doesn’t have any. That’s why these guys were able to buy in so quickly and kind of band together and go on the run that we’ve gone on so far. I think it’s great.”
Speaking of great, Maye is a microcosm of this team, taking off faster than anyone anticipated. Wolf was confident last year that the Patriots had found the hardest piece — The Guy at QB.
“Certainly, I’m biased, but I think he’s the MVP,” said Wolf.
Pump Patriot Place full of truth serum and you’ll find that no one expected the Patriots to be this good, not even the Patriots.
“Probably, I don’t think anyone would have sat here and thought we were going to have 14 wins this year,” said Wolf. “But what I would say is once they started coming it doesn’t surprise me.”
Wolf wouldn’t admit to being vindicated, but he’s thankful the Krafts stuck by him.
“I’m incredibly grateful. I think it would have been easy for them to try to go get somebody else,” he said. “But I think they appreciate how I work. … How I get along with different people.”
Hiring Vrabel wasn’t the only decision that Robert and Jonathan Kraft got right.
Ben Volin wonders if it is better to have a bye or be the second seed for the AFC playoffs.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.
