Patriots’ Eliot Wolf hoped for ‘more internal development’ of players

Patriots

Wolf didn’t see much success in his first year as New England’s VP of player personnel.

There’s been plenty of blame to go around for the Patriots’ struggles in 2024, and Eliot Wolf has not been excluded from the criticism, specifically surrounding New England’s lackluster roster.

In his first season as New England’s vice president of player personnel — essentially serving as the general manager of the Patriots — Wolf had a few ups, but plenty of downs in terms of roster management. His highlight, of course, was selecting Drake Maye third overall in the 2024 draft.

Wolf also nailed one offseason trade, sending Matthew Judon to the Falcons for a third-round pick. Judon hasn’t performed consistently to the level this season that he showcased in years past, registering just 5.5 sacks and 39 tackles in 2024.

However, Wolf had his fair share of misses this season as well. Notably, his selection of wide receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker have come under fire, as the two have vastly under-delivered on expectations this year. Considering Wolf traded down with the Chargers in the second round to pick Polk — allowing Los Angeles to select Ladd McConkey with New England’s original draft position — that decision looks even worse.

The Patriots had three major needs heading into Wolf’s first offseason in charge: quarterback, receiver, and offensive line (offensive tackle specifically). Maye was the only major improvement in any of those three areas.

As the Patriots season nears an end, Wolf reflected on his job in 2024, and offered a glaring admission of his hope for the players he acquired.

“We had a lot of needs. I would say that I guess personally, what I was expecting [was] 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 in an exclusive interview with Fox Sports’ NFL reporter Henry McKenna.

Wolf added specific insight into his rookie wide receivers that have become a point of contention for those criticizing Wolf.

“The rookie receivers didn’t really have it that much for us,” Wolf said. “And you know, Polk was sort of in our estimation a plug-and-play.”

Seemingly, Wolf’s comments are at least somewhat an indictment of Jerod Mayo and the Patriots coaching staff, who’d be responsible for the development of the players. Although, Wolf did take accountability for himself in the interview, adding that “our record speaks for itself. We didn’t do enough.”

Under the Bill Belichick regime in New England, it was easy to know who to point the finger at when players developed well — and when they didn’t. Belichick being the coach and GM assumed almost sole responsibility for bringing in and developing players. Now that the times have changed, though, it’s difficult to assess exactly where the fault lies in New England’s struggles to rebuild its roster this year.

No matter who’s to blame, it’s clear that the Patriots will need more out of both Wolf and Mayo when it comes to building a competitive roster next year. That is, assuming both retain their jobs for 2025, which remains unclear heading into the final week of New England’s season.