Eliot Wolf didn’t do himself any favors in his NFL Scouting Combine news conference with his mixed messaging about the front office and decision-making in New England.
“Ultimately, it’s my final say,” Wolf told reporters Wednesday, per team-provided video. “… Mike wouldn’t have taken this job if we weren’t comfortable with each other. There’s not gonna be Mike’s guys or Eliot’s guys. They’re gonna be Patriots guys.”
That sounded pretty definitive, but Mike Vrabel seemed to offer a different view of the situation.
“I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have wanted to be the head coach here if I wasn’t comfortable in my impact on the roster,” Vrabel told reporters Tuesday. “We want to continue to have great conversations with the personnel staff, with me, with (vice president of football operations and strategy John ‘Stretch’ Streicher), with coaching. We’re all just trying to find the ways to bring the right players in here. Whether that’s the first part of free agency, middle of free agency… the draft, there’s gonna be players who get released we’ll have to pivot to and have options. We need to strengthen the roster. We understand that and have some really good conversations about how we get there.”
These comments led to a lot of debate among media and fans. But how much merit do those discussions have?
It’s important to realize that Wolf and Vrabel are going to be asked this a lot over the offseason. So, you’re bound to get different answers each time. Also, the Patriots are huge traffic drivers for media outlets. What else is the Boston media going to talk about? The Celtics are waiting for the playoffs. The Bruins are at an odd spot before the NHL trade deadline, and the Red Sox are in spring training. Sure, they could be talking about the New England Revolution or the Fleet, but no one wants to hear their uninformed opinions about those teams.
That’s why we’re probably stuck in the purgatory of wondering who has more control: Wolf or Vrabel? Well, Patriots insiders offered a clearer picture.
MassLive’s Karen Guregian laid out the power structure in a column published Thursday.
“Bottom line: This is Vrabel’s show, and everyone else is following his lead,” Guregian wrote.
Wolf’s title of executive vice president of player personnel might be vague for a reason. He and his staff are entrusted with their scouting system and process, but Ryan Cowden and Streicher also were brought on for a reason, too.
The Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan revealed Friday on the “Patriots Hub Podcast” that the feeling after speaking to people at the combine is that it’s Vrabel’s team and Wolf is helping execute his vision.
Does Wolf have “final say?” Based on the notes from Patriots insiders, we can guess that, technically, he does. It sounds like Wolf is the man who will dot the I’s and cross the T’s after Vrabel has agreed on a decision to make for his team.
Is that a satisfying answer for the debate? Who knows? But it does show that New England fans were so used to Bill Belichick having so much control that they probably are looking for the same from Vrabel. But it does sound like the new head coach is willing to take in ideas from everyone. That doesn’t mean he has to follow through on those ideas.
