Why does Eliot Wolf appear to be safe? It’s the quarterbacks

In firing Mayo on Sunday night, Kraft didn’t mention Wolf or his role in the Patriots’ future. When asked Monday who will be running the coaching search, Kraft named Wolf and his right-hand man in the personnel department: “We’ll have Alonzo Highsmith, and Eliot will be involved.”

When pressed what that means for Wolf’s future, Kraft responded, “We are looking for people working together, and they will be staying on.”

While not exactly a full-throated endorsement, that appears to be Kraft’s confirmation that Wolf and the front office will remain. The question, then, is why? Why was Mayo fired less than 90 minutes after finishing a 4-13 season but Wolf is being given a pass?

The answer, believe it or not, presented itself on Sunday at Gillette Stadium in the Patriots’ utterly meaningless, 23-16 win over the Bills.

“Looks like we lucked out,” Kraft said Monday. “We maybe have two quarterbacks.”

Everyone knows about Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick who garnered the respect of TV analysts and opponents throughout the league. But rookie sixth-round pick Joe Milton looked great Sunday in his first NFL showcase, making several impressive throws and a few highlight-reel plays.

Wolf had a lot of misses in his first year running the Patriots’ front office. Most of the free agents he brought in didn’t pan out. The draft class barely produced all season. The offensive line depth, particularly at left tackle, was probably the worst in the NFL.

But Wolf nailed the quarterback position, which is the most crucial element for the Patriots’ return to relevance.

Franchises such as the Bears flounder for years, even decades, looking for the right quarterback. The Patriots struggled for four seasons to get even average quarterback play from Cam Newton, Mac Jones, and Bailey Zappe.

But Wolf found the Patriots not one, but two playmakers at the position. Maye looks like the real deal as the next franchise quarterback, while Milton has massive upside as the backup and developmental prospect. The Patriots have lacked excitement since Tom Brady left five years ago, but now have two quarterbacks that can put fans in the seats and turn the Patriots into winners again.

While Maye fell in Wolf’s lap at No. 3 only after Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels first went off the board, Wolf still deserves a lot of credit for drafting Maye. Sources said there was considerable debate inside Gillette Stadium last spring over keeping the No. 3 pick or trading down. One coach who worked in the quarterback room wanted the Patriots to trade the pick because they had so many roster holes. The Giants and Vikings were hot for Maye and offered multiple first-round picks, but Wolf stuck to his conviction and took Maye at No. 3. The Patriots probably could have benefited from a trade down and found multiple players, but none could match the impact Maye is going to make on the organization moving forward.

Backing up the Maye pick with Milton in the sixth round was also shrewd, a move straight out of the handbook of Wolf’s father, Hall of Fame Packers executive Ron Wolf. There’s no guarantee that Milton will pan out, but a 6-foot-5-inch mobile quarterback who can throw the ball 90 yards is well worth the risk with a Day 3 pick. And now the Patriots look like they have two young quarterbacks to build around.

Kraft acknowledged that the Patriots’ “drafts have not been good for a while,” and that was the case again in 2024, where few rookies outside Maye contributed. But another reason to keep Wolf was that Kraft allowed him to overhaul the team’s grading system last year. And it’s easy to justify this past year’s draft misses as the fault of the coaching staff that couldn’t develop players properly.

“I think that the department evolved a lot, and a lot of things were changed — we changed our grading system this year,” Kraft said. “I think we’ll hopefully see a big improvement this year.”

Kraft did leave himself wiggle room with regard to Wolf’s future. How “involved” will Wolf and Highsmith truly be in the interview process — actively asking questions, or just sitting in the back of the room? And just because they’re staying on now, are the wheels actually in motion to shuffle them out of the organization this spring or next year? Because of the amount of prep work required for free agency and the NFL Draft, a lot of front office movement often doesn’t happen until after the draft.

But it appears Kraft has made up his mind: Mayo was responsible for the disastrous season, not Wolf. And the reason is probably simple: Wolf found two quarterbacks when the Patriots had none.

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Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.