Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Eliot Wolf as GM? A Belichick is Back, and New Coaches and Execs

Starting point is 00:00:00 It appears that the New England Patriots will be employing a Bella check on their coaching staff in 2024 after all. Stick around, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots. As always, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Don't forget that Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube.

Starting point is 00:01:01 So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts to ensure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. Reach

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Starting point is 00:01:50 And Pats fans, as you can see, a couple of personal matters forcing us to an alternate location again today for part of the show. So a tip of the cap and a nod to all of you everydayers out there that continue to stay locked into locked on patriots fear not going to be back in the studio full-time tomorrow but you will be seeing us in studio in just a minute because as i said to open the show today you can take bill belichick out of new england but the belichick name remains on the sidelines that's right folks belichick will be returning to the coaching staff next season because as your new england patriots continue to round out the staff of newly installed head coach Gerard Mayo, the front office is starting to take shape as well. And today on the pod, we're going to be discussing all of those moves.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com is going to join me in a discussion that we had as all of these moves were going down. Trust me, folks, stay locked in because you are not going to want to miss this. But first and foremost, even though the Patriots have yet to officially name a general manager, the Patriots personnel department looks like it will be operating under the direction of scouting director Elliot Wolfe in 2024. Now this news comes from an NFL Network report on Wednesday from Ian Rappaport and it also comes on the heels of multiple reports indicating that Wolfe had been playing a prominent role in the selection of Mayo's staff and other front office duties. Folks, we've been mentioning this here on Locked On Patriots as a possibility for a couple of weeks now, and it does come into fruition.

Starting point is 00:03:21 If you're wondering what's going on with director of player personnel Matt Groh, his role will apparently be changing a little bit as Matt will be heading up the collegiate scouting department. He's also going to be maintaining an integral role in the team's operations. Now this is a reversal for these two. Elliot Wolfe had been in charge of scouting whereas Matt Groh was director of player personnel. Right now it looks like they're going to be reversing their roles but again they're supposed to work very closely in tandem with Wolf expected to take maybe a little bit more of the lion's share of the duty. Rounding out the new triumvirate in power in Foxborough is Pat Stewart. He will also be remaining on the Patriots staff, and he's going to be taking on what's being called an all-encompassing role. Folks, what this means is, in essence, the Patriots front office is going to be adapting a collaborative approach to the start of the year, which is set to begin on

Starting point is 00:04:10 March 9th. That includes free agency, and that includes the draft. And again, the NFL Network's report strongly insinuates that Wolfe is going to be the alpha voice in the Pats front office, and Steve and I are going to be discussing this along with the Pats hiring of a new quarterbacks coach. That's right, T.C. McCartney brought on board just before Steve and I are going to be discussing this along with the Pats hiring of a new quarterbacks coach that's right TC McCartney brought on board just before Steve and I began our discussion on Wednesday but shortly after our conversation the Patriots made another hiring Scott Peters is your new offensive line coach and this one came as a little bit of a surprise New England was thought to have been seeking Seattle Seahawks assistant Andy Dickerson for the job, but again, it's now known that the Patriots are going to be hiring Peters. Now, Peters comes with some pedigree. This is a good hire for the Pats. Of course,

Starting point is 00:04:53 a former offensive lineman, former fourth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles, played seven years in the NFL, and since 2020, he's served on the Cleveland Browns staff. Yeah, folks, you can see the pattern developing here. He worked under new Pats offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and also alongside longtime offensive line guru Bill Callahan. Pretty good company to keep if you're coming in to try to fix an offensive line that desperately needs it. And we're actually only scratching the surface when it comes to Peters

Starting point is 00:05:22 because, after all, if you're an everydayer, you know, if it's round men up front, we're talking about, that means that our main man Murph is going to have to weigh in. It's in his contract. We have to bring him in to do it. And he loves it. So we will be welcoming the green king of sting himself in here tomorrow for some additional insight and wisdom and counsel when it comes to the Patriots hiring of Scott Peters. So again, folks, keep it here for in-depth coverage from all the angles, the way only

Starting point is 00:05:48 we here on Locked On Patriots can bring it to you. But don't forget, Steve Balistrieri is going to be joining me here in just a moment, and we're going to be talking additional details on Elliott Wolfe. We're going to be discussing the hiring of T.C. McCartney, and we're also going to go into a little bit more in-depth on the Patriots coaching staff but before i welcome in my patriots paisan i for one am excited to say the words belichick is back no folks not that one or even the other one but the one that is coming back in my opinion may actually be the best fit for the patriots in this new regime. Capping off a monster day in New England, ESPN's Mike Reese reporting late Wednesday

Starting point is 00:06:28 evening that Brian Belichick will be coming back for his ninth season in New England, assumedly as the Patriots' safeties coach. And folks, this is a great hire for the New England Patriots. Keeping Brian Belichick in the fold is a smart move for the Pats. And no, it is not just because of his last name. Brian Belichick has worked his way up to be a fine NFL coach. He began his pro career as a scouting assistant in 2016. That was his first and only year working in the front office. And then he joined his dad down on the sidelines. And since 2017, he's been

Starting point is 00:07:01 assisting primarily with film breakdowns, and probably his best work came during the team's playoff run to victory in Super Bowl 51. He then transitioned into being a coaching assistant through the 2019 season before being promoted to safeties coach in 2020. And this is significant because that position was previously held by his elder brother, Steve. And yes, Brian was at the helm of the safeties when the patriots won their last super bowl title against the rams in super bowl 53. now individually outside of his name recognition

Starting point is 00:07:31 brian belichick has done a great job with the safeties group in three of his four seasons at the helm the patriots defense ranked among the nfl's top three in interceptions with guys like devin mccordy kyle duggar adrian phillips jabril peppers all playing major roles in that feat now three and interceptions with guys like Devin McCourty, Kyle Duggar, Adrian Phillips, Jabril Peppers, all playing major roles in that feat. Now the Patriots have had some ebb and flow within their core of cornerbacks. The injury to Christian Gonzalez, the problems with JC Jackson, even going back before that and the departure of Stephon Gilmore, this team has been always trying to replicate that type of mastery that you've seen New England have for so many years in the defensive backfield. Under Brian Belichick, the Patriots' safeties were collectively and routinely considered among the top positional groups in the league. That doesn't

Starting point is 00:08:15 happen by happenstance. It doesn't happen by nepotism. It happens because of skill, and Brian Belichick is a skilled coach. I'll admit this return was a bit surprising to me after all it comes on the heels of the Patriots and his father Bill mutually and amicably yeah mutually and amicably those are the right terms to say folks those are the cordial terms to use we'll leave it at that right now but that led me to believe that the Belichick kids were going to probably seek employment elsewhere in 2024 but if you think about it it really shouldn't come as a big shock Brian is still very much invested in this organization his dad Bill knows that this is probably the best spot

Starting point is 00:08:55 for him and he maintains a close relationship with newly minted Patriots head coach Gerard Mayo he's worked pretty closely with Brian Belichick during their time as assistants on New England's defensive staff. In fact, shortly before he was installed as the new Patriots head coach, Mayo referred to Belichick as, quote, a great coach, and he did offer both Brian and his brother Steve the opportunity to remain on his staff and with the organization this season. Now, we all know that Stephen, this past Monday, agreed to become the University of Washington's defensive coordinator that ended his tenure in New England. I think that was a smart move for Stephen. He's going to thrive there. But to me, this is a good move for the New England

Starting point is 00:09:35 Patriots. And the fact that Stephen is departing makes Brian's return an even bigger deal for the Patriots. And as the great Don would say, I'm going to give you all my reasons. First of all, the Patriots need someone to provide stability in the defensive backfield. Ryan Belichick provides that for all of the reasons that I talked about earlier. His continuity with the Patriots players on the staff, his work with coverages in the defensive backfield, that's going to be such an important part and an important role this year moving forward. We all know that the front seven is going to be well represented between Demarcus Covington and Mayo himself. That's their specialty. But Belichick is going to take his knowledge of safeties and defensive backs as a whole, especially the hybrid players like Jabril Peppers and Marte Mapu. He's going

Starting point is 00:10:21 to help to blend the talents of those positional groups into one cohesive unit on defense. So smart move for the Patriots to bring back Brian. And besides, if Brian Belichick ever needs any help, who's a better consigliere than his father? Folks, again, a dizzying pace has been set in Foxborough lately. And as I said before, we haven't even scratched the surface yet. In just a moment, our resident voice of reason and my good friend Steve Balistrieri is going to lend that reason when it comes to the Patriots hiring of T.C. McCartney. And we're also going to discuss the assumed elevation of Elliott Wolfe to the top spot in the front office and a couple of new faces that are going to be joining him as well. All that and some Paisan words of wisdom when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day.

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Starting point is 00:13:08 My good buddy, Steve Balistrieri. Steve, thank you for coming back today to Lockdown Patriots. And as always, there's a lot to talk about in Foxborough. Oh, you're not kidding. You know, Derek Havens and I just finished our Patriots fourth and two podcast. And we were saying, as you and I have said many, many times on here, there's never a dull day in Foxborough. And, you know, we'll be, you know, keeping our, as you call it, our sharp eye, you know, on this team until the regular season starts back up again

Starting point is 00:13:44 because there's so many moving parts there's going to be so many new parts especially on the offensive side of the football and new players coming in it's going to be a very exciting spring up here without question folks the new england patriots are definitely adding to their front office. They're adding to their coaching staff and everything is starting to round into form. Yesterday here on the pod, Patricia Trena, host of Lockdown Giants, joined me, talked a lot about Ben McAdoo and what he's going to bring to the table offensively. Well, the one position conspicuous by its absence that was really kind of still hanging out there, even though most people believe that Alex Van Pelt and Ben McAdoo were going to take a huge role in developing the Patriots quarterback situation. It looks right

Starting point is 00:14:29 now like they're targeting a specific quarterback's coach, and that is T.C. McCartney, folks, most recently serving as the Cleveland Browns tight ends coach. He was the Denver Broncos quarterback's coach in 2019. He now reunites with Alex Van Pelt in New England. And Steve, this definitely, I think, only cements the fact that the Patriots are continuing their move to that West Coast type offense. I know Patriots fans are a little bit squeamish about the experimentation that happened a couple of years ago. Folks, don't let that throw you. Do not let that deter you from thinking that this is the right move for the New England

Starting point is 00:15:05 Patriots, at least schematically, because they did not have the personnel to run it. They didn't have the proper coaches in place to be able to implement it. And again, folks, it fell flat. It doesn't look like that's going to be the case this time around. They're definitely getting the coaching staff in place to do it. Let's talk a little bit about this coaching staff, specifically McCartney. What are your thoughts on this hire? And what do you think it means for the Patriots offense moving forward? Yeah, it's fascinating because, you know, they hired Ben McAdoo, you know, recently.

Starting point is 00:15:38 And, you know, as an offensive assistant, I was under the impression that okay McAdoo will you know be an advisor to the new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and help him you know with specifics uh you know uh the weeks leading up to games but I also thought he would work a lot with the quarterbacks that they have. Like right now, they basically have three young quarterbacks. I know Rourke is a restricted right, exclusive restricted rights free agent. But I figure they're going to bring him back because they traded for him or they brought him in, I should say. And so I think they'll give him a shot to compete. And if they draft a quarterback, then they'll have four young quarterbacks.

Starting point is 00:16:33 So I assumed that that was going to fall under the, you know, the umbrella of Ben McAdoo. Now with McCartney, you know, he's going to be the new quarterback whisperer, I guess you could say, for the Patriots. So I think that's fascinating because now I'm wondering, okay, what exactly is McAdoo's function going to be? And, you know, there's so many unanswered questions, but I like the fact that they're hiring their, you know, there's so many unanswered questions. But I like the fact that they're hiring their, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:08 all new people on the offensive side of the football. I think it was needed. There's some change needed there. And I know a lot of people aren't exactly thrilled with everything, but you've got to give it a chance, okay? They made the decision to move on from Bill. They made the decision to bring in new coaches. And you've just got to let them coach and bring in the players that these guys need to succeed in their new roles.

Starting point is 00:17:37 And we'll see where it happens. Because right now, nobody knows what's going to happen. We can all say we love it, we hate it, somewhere in the middle. But until they get the players, hopefully they hit a home run in the draft and free agency this year and get on the field, we'll have to see how it all plays out. But I'm intrigued by all of it because it's new, it's different, and they made that decision to go in this direction. So let's see how it all plays out. Yeah, I agree with you. It's exciting, right? I

Starting point is 00:18:13 mean, I know all of you out there are excited about it too. It's different. Look, there's a chance that it may not work. There's a good chance that it may work. But in order for us to really be able to judge it, we've got to see a sample of what this new system, what this new philosophy is going to be like on the field. So until then, it really is all about theory. And essentially that's what we're doing here, folks. We're giving you theories. We're giving you our interpretations of what we believe is going to happen in Foxborough. And when I saw that McCartney was being targeted by the Patriots and that they look like they're zeroing in on him as the quarterback's coach, it told me two things. The first thing that it told me

Starting point is 00:18:49 is the Patriots are really going in on this West Coast scheme. They're really going to pivot what they've been doing offensively here for a number of years to that timing base, quick footwork by the quarterback, precise route running, short passing plays plays forcing the defense to cover the field from sideline to sideline Patricia Trena talked about Ben McAdoo's strengths and being able to coach a certain system and utilizing the running game utilizing the outside zone and the gap run blend along with the short passing game to get yards after the catch that's where this offense really comes alive and if you really want to see what this offense looks like in its best form is to take a look at what the San Francisco 49ers

Starting point is 00:19:30 are doing right now. That offense is run and it's run very efficiently. And that to me is the gold standard of this West Coast type offense. They finished second in yards per game this season, Steve, with 398.4 points per game, 28.9. That was this season, this regular season for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, I'm not saying the Patriots are going to get there overnight. It's going to take a while for them to get to this level, but that's what they're aspiring to. And when you're the Patriots and you're coming in with the worst record in the AFC, you need to go ahead and to take baby steps forward. And to me, it looks like that's what the Patriots are doing. So expect to see that West Coast offense. But also what this tells me,

Starting point is 00:20:11 but is that the Patriots are indeed looking at guys like McAdoo. They're looking at guys like Van Pelt. And now they're looking at guys like, like McCartney to come in and to, I think they're going to try to develop a quarterback. Now, this could either mean that the Patriots have zeroed in on the guy they want at number three, or it could mean some truth to a lot of the rumors we've been hearing all week that the Patriots may indeed trade down, maximize that number three pick for multiple value, and then draft a quarterback maybe on day two or on day three and try to develop him. I'll give you all an opportunity that are listening right now to groan and get it out

Starting point is 00:20:50 of your system. But I'm telling you, folks, there is a distinct possibility that it happens. I'm not saying I agree with it. I'm not saying it's the right move. But if Elliott Wolfe is in charge of this team and it looks like he is, Steve and I are going to discuss that in a moment too, then there is a distinct possibility that that trade down happens. And look, we talked about the Shanahan offense, Steve. McCartney has experience alongside Kyle Shanahan. These two work together. McCartney was an offensive assistant when Shanahan was the Browns offensive coordinator

Starting point is 00:21:19 back in 2014. They reunited during Shanahan's first two seasons as 49ers head coach. McCartney served as an offensive assistant and a quality control coach there as well. So I want to talk about bringing all areas together to try to make this work. Yeah, I think between McAdoo, between Van Pelt, and between McCartney, you're trying to get three quarterback whispers that can develop talent into solid NFL players. So that's my takeaway from these hires, folks. And I think that's ultimately what you're going to see from the New England Patriots moving on here. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:51 And another aspect, you know, they're righting a wrong that happened last season where they're allowing their offensive coordinator to bring in his guys. Absolutely. And, you know, Van Pelt is bringing in his guys. Absolutely. And, and, uh, you know, Van Pelt is, is bringing in his guys and, you know, it, I think that goes a long way and, and getting your offense back on track, you know, because, you know, we saw so many mistakes and it came from different areas. It came from the offensive line time after time, came from wide receivers running the wrong routes. Same with tight ends and running backs.

Starting point is 00:22:32 I think that, you know, when you allow your offensive coordinator to bring in his guys, I think it makes the player's job easier. And because now everyone's on the same sheet of music. So I think that's extremely important. I think, you know, it comes down to, yeah, they have a lot to do, a lot of work to do, but I'm excited to see how they address this. And, you know, you're talking about young quarterbacks.

Starting point is 00:23:04 I thought Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston made a great point. What if they're not sold on any of these top three guys? That's a very good point. And they make a trade for a guy like Justin Fields. If they make a trade for Justin Fields, you have a quarterback that's already experienced in the NFL, and that, of course, means that they think he can elevate his game. And if they do that, then you can trade back in that first round a little bit,

Starting point is 00:23:34 still get your tackle and your wide receiver by round two. And, you know, your rebuild, the timeline on that is going to accelerate. Absolutely. And especially when you're bringing in someone who's a little bit battle-tested in Justin Fields. He's played through some adversity, folks. The Bears weren't always happy with his output. He heard the boos his first couple of years. He would love to be able to turn those into cheers.

Starting point is 00:24:02 Maybe a fresh start is exactly what he needs. Or maybe he can find his mojo in Chicago as well. But I think that is a great point, Steve. And it really lends into getting the coaches all on the same page and getting the players on the same page as well. Everybody being on the same page, folks, is definitely a good thing for the New England Patriots. And one small tidbit that I could not resist, Steve,

Starting point is 00:24:24 and this comes from the desk of Karen Garigian of MassLive, who is brilliant. Karen is just awesome. One of the best in the business. Love Karen. And she did mention that not all of the Bill Belichick is out of the building just yet, folks. Ben McAdoo is still being paid by the Carolina Panthers.

Starting point is 00:24:41 This is a Bill Belichick playbook staple. And it's obvious, and she writes, and I quote, it's obvious the Belichick playbook hasn't totally left the building. Steve, you and I said this exactly last week. You can take Bill Belichick out of the building, but you cannot take the Belichickian wisdom and counsel out of Foxborough. I think that really comes all full circle. So it all is relative, and they are still pulling a little bit from the past.

Starting point is 00:25:06 Not everything from the past didn't work here. Despite of what you'll hear elsewhere, folks, there are still elements to build on there as well. Absolutely. But, yeah, I thought Bill always did a great job of that. And, you know, he was letting guys get their big money from other places. And, you know, I thought that was a great move. And I'm glad they're continuing that.

Starting point is 00:25:31 I mean, because I think it's smart. It's a smart way to run your business. It absolutely is. And bottom line, folks, you want to take the best aspects of what the former regime did well, and you want to build on that. Whether or not that actually comes true is still a matter of conjecture but i think gerard mayo is doing it the right way and i think he's building some solid foundation here we'll see what it leads to in 2024 and steve also with these hires there's a common theme among a lot of them all right mccartney did not

Starting point is 00:26:02 necessarily have a direct connection to this gentleman, but almost every other hire that the Patriots have made, including a new front office executive that's going to be starting here in New England, Alonzo Highsmith is about to take a job with New England. They're all connected to one Elliot Wolfe. And Elliot's looking like the guy. Folks, I don't think that's a bad thing at all i think this guy is someone they've looked at for a while that could possibly be a top flight gm here in the nfl and i think a lot of other teams would have loved to have had this guy on their staff and it looks like the patriots are starting to build a front office and an executive powers that be body in foxborough that he can definitely use to his advantage and he can mold in his

Starting point is 00:26:46 image. Folks, we're going to talk about what it may mean if Elliot Wolfe is in fact given the title of general manager or if he continues to do business at status quo because this team is going to have his fingerprint on it. We'll also talk about Alonzo Highsmith and what he brings to the table when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Did you know that even if you have a 401k for retirement, you can still have an IRA?

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Starting point is 00:28:15 Robinhood IRA for five years. The 3% matching on transfers is subject to specific terms and conditions. Robinhood IRA available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC member SIPC is a registered broker-dealer. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today. As you can see, I am joined by my Patriots Paisan, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com. Steve, it's been an action-packed day in Foxborough so far. The Pats may have a new quarterbacks coach in T.C. McCartney. They already have an offensive assistant that was hired on Monday, per reports. We're still waiting for the official word from the team on these folks, but this is pretty well set in stone. Ben McAdoo is on his way to

Starting point is 00:29:02 Foxborough. He will be the new offensive assistant coach. And Steve, when you look at the guys they've brought in, whether it be Alex Van Pelt, whether it be Ben McAdoo, there seems to be a prevailing qualification that all of these guys have. And that is that they've spent time working with Patriots director of scouting, Elliot Wolfe. Now, when the Patriots announced that they were going to hire a general manager after Gerard Mayo came in and it looked obvious that the Patriots were not going to go the Bill Belichick route once again and give total control to the head coach, give him general manager and give him head coaching duties, just seemed to be a little bit too much on anyone's

Starting point is 00:29:40 shoulders to be able to do. And for lack of a better term, folks, the NFL has kind of moved away from that model. They're not necessarily doing business in that fashion anymore. Elliot Wolfe's name was right up at the top of my list. As a matter of fact, I wrote about this for Sports Illustrated on January 12th, the day after Mayo had been hired and he had been essentially identified

Starting point is 00:30:01 as the new Patriots head coach. This guy has a tremendous amount of pedigree and has built up a very good reputation in that Patriots front office for a good long while. Since 2022, he's been the Patriots director of scouting. He's the first to hold the title in the organization. They had had guys that had worked on scouting before and they had had split positions and things of that nature that title was given to elliot wolf for the first time in history and that should tell you that they really have an awful lot of faith he's held executive titles both in scouting and assistant general manager for the green bay packers

Starting point is 00:30:36 for the cleveland browns we all remember what his dad ron wolf did with the green bay packers and you know that super bowl championship team that he brought to them. A lot of pedigree, a lot of experience. But Elliott seems like he's bringing in a lot of his guys. And one of the guys that he's bringing in right now is someone that is reportedly on his way to New England. Yeah, folks, another Elliott Wolfe hire, Alonzo Highsmith, who spent the last year as the general manager of football operations at the University of Miami. He was a senior executive for Green Bay from 2012 to 2017, while Wolfe was working his way up the ranks. Alonzo became the vice president of player personnel for Cleveland from 2018 to 2019.

Starting point is 00:31:18 You know who the assistant GM was at that time? Elliot Wolfe. So you're seeing a synergy here. And then he became a consultant, a personnel exec for Seattle from 2020 to 2022 before going to Miami. So there's clearly a working relationship here. Ben McAdoo's worked with Elliot Wolfe. When you look at this type of synergy that Elliot Wolfe is bringing in, what do you think this means for the Patriots front office, as opposed to the product we're going to see on the field, which we discussed in the last segment? I'll tell you why I like it. They all came from Green Bay, right? This is like Packers reunion time, you know, for all of these guys in Elliott Wolfe. And when you think about the Packers, how do they build their teams?

Starting point is 00:32:05 They build their teams through the draft. Not as much in free agency. Now, this year, the Patriots have a boatload of money in free agency, so they're going to spend some of it. Gerard may have already pretty much confirmed that. But they build their teams you know through the draft and he's bringing in all of his guys right these are all green bay guys so i this is the part that i like um and alonzo highsmith is another one of these guys i keep wanting to say alex high. You know, you and I were talking offline about that.

Starting point is 00:32:46 And I said, Alex. So, you know, but Alonzo Highsmith is from that same thing. You know, the same group. They all spend time together in Green Bay. And that's why I like this, because it makes me believe that the drafts are going to improve around here, improve around here. Now, you know, in fairness to Elliot Wolfe and some of the scouts that the Patriots have, you know, they gave recommendations to Bill. And I'm not bad-mouthing Bill at all here.

Starting point is 00:33:20 But we do know that he overruled them on a couple of occasions. And I go back to Debo Samuel, you know, the, the scouts wanted Debo in the draft and, you know, Bill overruled them and, and took Nikhil Harry. And we all know how that turned out, but just, I mean, think for a second, if the Patriots had depot the last couple of years and how different this offense might look right now you know because we know

Starting point is 00:33:52 what kind of a talent he is so and this aspect i'm again i'm excited to see how they it might not work but i'm excited to see how it will because i i think that you know they realized hey look you know we need to make some changes to how we do things and we're gonna go with what we know and you know how we worked so i i'm excited i mean you know to see how it all plays out because the patriots are going to look a lot different on the field and off the field. Yeah, they truly are. There definitely is going to be a different look, a different feel, not just on the way that's team plays and not just on the field and the

Starting point is 00:34:35 stylistic way that they do business on the gridiron, but how they do business in that front office, things of that nature will be different. And look, you go back to Wolf and you look at his pedigree, and I think you hit this perfectly, Steve. Not only does he bring that element of building through the draft, which he's been brilliant at, and he does a great job of scouting players. And we've heard some of the reports about some of his suggestions maybe being overruled or shunned away. That's something that will not be shunned away anymore. He's the main voice in the room now,

Starting point is 00:35:05 but let's not forget that he's also very adept at being able to pursue free agents. And the Patriots are going to need some free agents and they have the cash to burn to bring these guys in. According to what Gerard Mayo said, they're going to need veteran leadership in that locker room. Guys that are coming in and are buying into the system that haven't played here before. That's big. In getting a chance to talk to several former players, either on or off the record throughout the years that I've covered the NFL, one of the big things that they always remark about, especially rookies, is seeing guys come in from different organizations that had never played for the organization before, and they buy in right away. The New England Patriots had that for a long time here in New England. Guys automatically knew their role.

Starting point is 00:35:49 They came in and they towed the line and adapted the Patriot way. That's what led the rookies to buy into it. Granted, the time passed it by. It was time to move on. It was time to leave that way of thinking and that way of doing business behind, at least according to what the crafts thought. But it worked here for a number of years because players would buy into it coming in from the outside.

Starting point is 00:36:11 If Gerard Mayo gets that kind of buy-in from external free agents this year, I think that could be huge for the development of new players, rookies, draftees, and younger players that are trying to hook on and make a name for themselves. I think Elliott Wolfe is building that because let's not forget he was instrumental in bringing guys like matthew judon kendrick bourne hunter henry here in 2021 now let's see when he has full control or at least more control than he had in 2021 of the vehicle let's see him drive it this time around i think patriots fans might be pleasantly surprised with the results. I totally agree. I mean, you know, it's, it's, again, it's exciting because

Starting point is 00:36:52 there's all new, you know, there's all new pieces to the puzzle. They're, you know, they're free agency and the NFL draft this year, I think, is their most important in the last quarter century because with all these new pieces, they have to hit on a lot of these. Let's face it. They have to really hit a home run this year. And if they do that, you'll accelerate your rebuild time you know it's not going to be easy and none of this is an exact science you have to you know try to fit guys that you feel will work in your system and work with your locker room and how it it all combines with the salary cap and it's an inexact science,

Starting point is 00:37:45 but you know, I think that they have a lot of intriguing pieces already in place in the front office and the coaching staff. So I think they're, they're off to a good start. I think. Steve, what can I say?

Starting point is 00:38:04 You always lend your thicket of wisdom of counsel and reason the way only you can my friend i'm always honored to share the microphone with you before i let you go please let everyone know where they can interact with you reach out to you and what you got cooking in steve balistrieri's kitchen for the next week or so um in terms of patriots coverage my friend yeah you can find me on Twitter at SteveB7SFG. I write from PatsFans.com. And I always appreciate the call from you. You know, I love talking football with you.

Starting point is 00:38:34 And, you know, you're the man here. So I'm always here for you. Yeah, we'll be looking at a lot of the same stuff we've been talking about today. The front office moves, the coaching moves, you know, the upcoming draft and free agency. I mean, as we said at the outset, there's never a dull day in Foxborough. No, never a dull day in Foxborough. And I thank you for the compliment. That is very nice of you to say.

Starting point is 00:39:01 But, you know, the man only goes so far as the guys that help get them there. And you're definitely one of those guys, Steve. It's always my pleasure to share the microphone with you, buddy. Thank you so much for stopping by today and folks. Thank you all for investing time in your day here on locked on Patriots, whether you be an everyday or who we value so much or a first time listener or a casual listener, we appreciate all of the support that you provide to the pod. And folks, continue to stay locked in because we are not done yet. Stay locked into Locked On, Patriots.

Starting point is 00:39:32 But in the meantime, on behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate reminding you all to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone. And we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.

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