Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Power Shift: Did Eliot Wolf Assert More Draft Authority Than Mike Vrabel?

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

New England Patriots face swirling questions about front office power as rumors mount over whether the recent NFL Draft was truly an "Eliot Wolf draft." Is Wolf’s influence overshadowing Mike Vrabel, or does the head coach still call the shots? Nick Cattles scrutinizes draft strategies, the Caleb Lomu pick, and how Vrabel’s personal life may be impacting his standing and leadership style inside Gillette Stadium. Key updates include Christian Gonzalez getting his fifth-year option picked up, signaling long-term plans at cornerback, and Robert Spillane’s health status stabilizing a thin linebacker group. Nick Cattles also covers A.J. Brown trade implications, wide receiver Kayshon Boutte’s uncertain future, and how these moves shape the Patriots’ path toward another Super Bowl run. Which leader is steering the Patriots’ future—Wolf or Vrabel—and what does it mean for the team’s identity? Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnfl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There is a theory out there that the 2026 NFL draft was an Elliott-Wolf draft, but I'm not totally buying it. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host of Nick Cattels. On today's episode, an important first step towards keeping Christian Gonzalez in New England for the long term. been taken care of. Also, we'll have the very latest on Mike Vrable's job security after that page six mess. But first is Elliot Wolf swinging the big stick. Now, before we get to

Elliot Wolf, I do want to send a congratulations out to Rob Grunkowski. Grunk, we have found out early on Wednesday that he is the latest member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, voted in by fans. This is not surprising. We talked about this several weeks ago. Hashtag as expected, Rob Grunkowski, Patriots Hall of Famer, in my estimation, best tight end of all time. Football history, the best tight end that we have seen, no notes. Other than congratulations to Grok, absolutely well deserved. All right. There are multiple local podcasters and writers that have been talking about the draft from over the weekend,

being a quote unquote Elliott Wolf draft. And the question has to be asked. Is Elliot Wolf's influence growing? Did he run this draft over the weekend? Now, of course, we know Saturday, day three, Mike Vrable wasn't there, but we're talking about from beginning to end, round one through round seven,

round one through the UDFA signings. And some believe this was an Elliot Wolf production. Not so much Mike Vrabbles. And the theory goes like this. One of the reasons being thrown out is that Caleb Lomu is not a quote unquote Vrable type player. Now, of course, we talked about this when the Patriots moved up on Thursday night to draft Caleb Lomu that he was not the ultimate finish guy on the offensive line.

He doesn't have much nasty to him. I believe you can acquire that. It could be coached into you. but there's no doubt that if you look at Caleb Lomu, he is not necessarily your prototypical quintessential Mike Vrable offensive lineman. The other part of this thought process is that Mike Vrable's scandal opened the door for Elliot Wolfe to nudge himself back into the great graces of the crafts and have more influence and be trusted more than Mike Vrable.

so now he was the guy that orchestrated what we saw happen in this draft. Now, I do not discount Elliot Wolf having some more influence this year. I do not discount that. And I don't look at the scandal as the number one reason. Elliot Wolf has now worked with Mike Vrable for over a year. We're inching towards a year and a half. Vrable was obviously hired in January of 2025. we are now on the precipice of May in 2026.

So we're getting close to about a year and a half or so that Vrable and Wolf have worked together. So I do think you go back to last year when it was three or four months. I'm not sure that Vrable was listening to everything that Wolf said and believing in wolf, understanding what Wolf's strengths and weaknesses were. They were still growing together. They were still trying to understand each other. as a partnership helping run this program.

Now you fast forward, they know each other. They know each other personally. They know each other professionally. They know the strengths, the weaknesses of the other. And so, yeah, I would not sit here and say that Elliot Wolf, it's impossible to believe that he has more influence on draft weekend than he had his first year with Ravel. That really is how it usually works out.

the work relationship matures and you are more open to the ideas of others when you trust them, when you know them more. Also, let's not forget, Mike Vrable went to the Super Bowl this year. So when you look at Vrable leaving the Cleveland Browns organization, being hired as the Patriots head coach, Vrable had nothing to do from the interview process all the way. through the draft process, he had nothing to do but to build the Patriots program and focus on acquiring talent and bringing guys in via the draft that he thought would work. He spent those months leading into the draft fully focused on building the roster. That wasn't the point in 2026.

Early 2026, he's the head coach of a team making a run to the Super Bowl. So Vrable had less time to spend at looking through all the college tape that he was able to watch last year. Now I know, Elliot Wolf said, well, he's more involved now than he was last season. Yeah, because he was trying to play catch up. So I don't think it's crazy to believe that Wolf had some more influence on this year's draft than last year's draft. But do I think that Wolf is calling the shots? Would I call this an Elliot Wolf draft? I would not do that. I do not think he has overtaken Mike Vrable in that room. And that's what you would have to say. You would have to say that Elliott Wolf has more stroke than Mike Vrable in that draft room

during this past draft. If you're going to tell me it was an Elliott Wolf draft, that tells me Elliot Wolf was orchestrating the entire thing and guys were listening to him in that room and following his lead. And I don't believe that's the case. Does he have more influence in that room than he had? Yes. I believe he has more influence in that room and he had more influence in that room during this draft than he had in last year's draft. But I don't think he's running this ship. Mike Vrable is running this ship. This is his program. And I'm just not going to believe that Elliot Wolfe walked into that draft room on Thursday night. It was like, all right, fellas, follow my lead. Caleb Lomu is not a Mike Vrable type offensive lineman, as I said. But Caleb Lomu was also

the seventh remaining tackle out of seven tackles that were graded as first round prospects in this draft. We all know that tackle was a need. Was this a case of Elliott Wolf strong arming people? Was this a case of Elliott Wolf saying, that's my guy. I'm standing on the table. We're going to move up and draft my guy. Or was it the case of, hey, look, he's one of the best players that are left in this first round. He is in a position of need for us.

and we have to strike to make this thing happen because if we don't, we're not going to have a tackle that we can develop and feel is capable of starting in 2027. I would go with the latter instead of the former. They needed a tackle. Jared Wilson isn't nasty. So you drafted Jared Wilson last year and we didn't hear about, oh, that was an Elliott Wolf draft pick. In Lomu's profile fits with the other offensive line acquisitions,

that have been happening since Frable took over. We've talked about it. Offensive linemen on this team, ultra athletic, very smart, good culture fits. The team is built in the vision of the head coach and the staff. Elliot Wolf is not drafting anybody unless Mike Vrable is not in on it.

It's just, it's not going to happen. Elliot Wolf gets the okay from Vrable. And if Vrable is giving Wolf the okay, this was not an Elliott Wolf draft. This was ultimately a Mike Vrable draft with more influence from Elliott Wulf. And there's a difference there. This team is still built in the vision of Vrable.

You can't sit there and tell me it was an Elliott Wulf draft when in the second round you moved up and drafted Gabacchus, who was a perfect fit for everything that Mike Vrable looks for. So was that just a Mike Vrable pick? And then they went back to Elliott Wulf World. Is that how this happened? Again, I'm talking about round one through round three. We know Vrable wasn't there on Saturday.

But I also know that Elliott Wolf said they went through a plan on Friday night to make sure Vrable was fully understanding the situation, the type of players they were looking at, the guys that were looking at, what kind of players Vrable wanted. I mean, this, you know, Vrable's guidance of team and program building led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first year. And we think that people are just going to run away from that. We think the crafts are just going to walk away and have things changed up from the 25 draft to the 26th draft after the 2025 draft was praised by most of the football world. I just, I don't think that's the case.

And by the way, even when Vrable is not in the room, the room is still littered with Vrable guys. Do we think that John Stretch Stryker got phased out? Do we think that Ryan Cowden just sat there in the corner and remained silent? Do we think the entire coaching staff just allowed Elliot Wolf to be up there as the conductor, just letting things like I just don't see it. More influence, I would have that conversation. Calling this Elliott Wolfe's draft, not going that far. Mike Vrable gets to credit.

Mike Vrable gets to criticism for the acquisitions of this football team because he's the guy that makes the final call. I thought that was the case when he got the job last year. I still think that's the case right now. The plan is for Mike Vrable to remain the head coach and the leader of this program. That's what the plan is. And I don't think that the Patriots are just going to interrupt that for a single draft because it would make no sense. So I don't think this was an Elliott Wolf draft.

I think he has more influence, but I still say that Mike Vrable is on that letterhead when it comes to drafting players to this football team. Speaking of Mike Vrable, the latest on Vrable standing within the walls of Gillette after a rocky personal couple of weeks. It's coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network,

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show, tap the link in the show notes to find out more or go to lockdown patriots. com.com. And don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you watch on YouTube. Every single thumbs up helps us with the algorithm. So do the comments. Do you think this was an Elliott Wolf draft? I don't. I don't.

I think this was once again a collaboration with Mike Vrable having the final call. But what are your thoughts? Throw the comments in. And don't forget to subscribe. as we get closer to 9,600 subscribers. The next big goal is 10,000. Let's continue to build this community. All right, this specific podcast, okay, this specific show,

we stay away from the salacious. We're not going to get into the gossip. I want to focus on what impacts the football team. I've said that from day one, and I continue to say that. But we do have a story from Boston Sports Journal's Mike Giardy, telling us the latest regarding Mike Vrable and how he is being perceived within the walls at Gillette.

And that impacts football folks. That impacts this team. It has a lot to do with football. Giardy wrote, Mike Vrable showed up to work on Monday morning. As an employee, that's what you're supposed to do. But in light of recent developments, his presence was not expected.

Someone in the building told Giardi via text, quote, I was surprised, happy to see him for sure, but this hasn't and probably won't be easy for a while, unquote. I don't really understand this. I don't understand this idea of Vrable went to go get some counseling over the weekend. And I guess people thought that he was going to remain in that counseling for an extended period of time. I don't understand this. People get counseling nowadays and they go to work. I feel like we're dealing with some archaic thought that like, oh, Vrable went to counseling on Saturday,

he went to counseling over the weekend. So we just kind of expected him to continue to go through the counseling, which meant he was not going to be going to work. People go through counseling and they continue to work every single day in this world. It's what happens. Mike Vrable did not go into rehab. He wasn't going to, you know, a 30-day inpatient program. He wasn't going through a 60 or 90-day inpatient program.

And I would also, I would also add that in 2026, guess what? You can actually have counseling done from your own home. I know. Might shock some people, but a lot of people, people that I know personally, get therapy from their own home. They threw it through the computer. They do it through Zoom or whatever that counselor uses. There are programs out there.

There are companies that do this. We have had a company advertise on this podcast that specializes in getting people help and getting people help from the safety and comfort of their own home. So this idea of Mike Frable was going to counseling, I'm surprised he was at work on Monday. I don't really get that. If you were an accountant and you were getting counseling, would your work expect you to not show up on that Monday? If you got the counseling on a Friday, if you had a Saturday session, are you not expected? I don't understand this.

Nobody ever said, hinted or implied that Vrable would be gone for an. extended period of time. So why are are people surprised any people? Why are they surprised that he was there on Monday? Now, I would remind everyone, this was one person. One. One person text, Mike Giardy.

So one person was surprised. I don't know if the majority of the building was surprised. Back to Giardi's story. Vrable waited to address the media in public about the initial photos. He waited until he spoke to his team. I'm told the initial conversation went about as well as

could be expected. But when more information came to light, Vrable felt the need to speak to them again. The internal response to that wasn't as forgiving. Now, this is more important. This matters because the idea is Mike Vrable at the very beginning of this thing when he was going to talk to the players,

the voluntary program week one, sit down with them, let them know. I made a bad decision, made bad decisions, became a distraction, et cetera. And then they were all going to move on. And then the second set of pictures came out on Thursday, the first day of the draft. And apparently Vrable had to go back to the players and back to some people in the building and have another conversation. Now, that does matter because every time you go back to the team, every time you go back to the staff, you lose a bit of credibility.

You lose a little bit of trust, right? I mean, just put yourself in those players' shoes. And players are not monoliths, by the way. I'm sure this is not a universal feeling. We heard from Robert Spillane and Hunter Henry on Tuesday. And what those guys said publicly was, I thought Frabel handled it great. His energy has been great.

But I'm sure not every player agrees with that either. And so every time you have to go back and say, well, fellas, I know we talked about this earlier in the week, but now we've got to talk about it again because I might have missed this detail, that detail. every time that happens, that could cause a fracture within the credibility and trust that Mike Vrable has built with the players. Not every single one of them, but that possibility exists. Mike Garty also wrote that those who were around Vrable felt like his personality had been tamped down,

no doubt because of what he had or has weighing on him. This also matters. When you think about Vrable, you think about his personality. right you think about his personality his makeup his swag and all of that stuff like his ultra confidence his gregariousness that really helps build the team's personality itself and it also helps build the team's belief within Vrable because that dude's at the front of the room and he's telling you and he's telling you in a certain way and if his personality gets negatively impacted by what's been going on, that will impact the team.

Because now you're going to rely on others to build up that belief, to carry that swagger. Now, I do think, you know, ultimately this team's personality will be its players. And as you get to year two, year three, year four, like Drake May. Drake May should be the guy at the front of the room. Drake May should be the guy who is helping mold this team's personality now in 2026. So it is more important for Vrable to have that swag and the personality and the charisma. It is more important in year one than year two, but it's still important.

In Vrable's personality is also important when it comes to recruiting free agents, keeping guys on board if you need them to stay on board. somebody does something, Vrable's ability to connect, relate, that credibility and trust, that still has to be there. That still has to be there. One final note from Garty, maybe the most important. From what I understand, ownership remains fully committed to Vrable and is hoping this story blows over. I'm not surprised.

And I've said this. You know, from what we know right now, I do not think Mike Vrable is gone. I don't think he's going to resign. I don't think the Patriots are going to fire him. The Patriots came out with a statement fully supporting Vrable. And yes, they can run away from that at some point. But what we've heard so far, Patriot statement standing behind him. Robert Kraft sitting right next to him during draft night, having conversations.

There was an event on Tuesday night of like premium club members or whatever. And, you know, they gave Mike Vrable a standing ovation. not telling you if that's right or wrong. It's what happened. So I just don't think he has been cast aside. He is still the guy in that building, which ties together what we talked about in the first segment. And if nothing else happens, I think it settles down.

If nothing else happens, if something more comes out, if something worse comes out, then we will revisit this conversation. But as of right now, he's safe. I don't think the crafts are looking to get rid of him in any kind of way. But he's got to make sure. Vrable has to make sure that things stay on the right path here moving forward. Because if that credibility, the trust, the belief, if that starts to erode, then that's

going to impact the team negatively. An important step in the Christian Gonzalez negotiations, a health update on Robert Spillane and more coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The first step towards Christian Gonzalez being in New England long term has happened. Reported on that Christian Gonzalez has had his 50-year option picked up by the Patriots. That was reported on later in the day. I believe it was evening night, Tuesday.

I don't know. It all runs together. But in the last 24 hours, we have heard that Gonzalez got his 50-year option picked up. This is not a surprise. This was certainly expected. the deadline was May 1st, so you had to make this official some point soon. So here we are. It has been made official.

And for Gonzalez, it's a club option for next year, 2027. He's going to make $18.1 million in 2020. Now, I believe both sides will continue to have a negotiation, have conversations, see if they can hammer out a long-term deal. I do think the Patriots want to get Gonzalez done on a long-term deal. I don't know if I'd be surprised if it didn't happen, but, you know, this offseason, I do think that it is the ultimate plan.

It is the ultimate plan to keep Christian Gonzalez in New England as the number one corner for the next five, six, seven years. Now, I am fascinated by a few things. And the reason why, you know, the reason why I'm not, so sure it'll happen this offseason, even though I do think it happens. I'm not going to, you know, bet my home on it. Few things that fascinate me. Will the reported A.J. Brown trade, which seems, as we talked about earlier this week, inevitable at this point, feels like there's a deal done between the Patriots and the Eagles, and they're just waiting until June. How much will that

impact Christian Gonzalez's contract? You're going to have to pay A.J. Brown. I think A.J. Brown's contract is going to have to be restructured. And I would imagine some kind of extension is done when he has traded to the Patriots. So how does that cash flow impact Gonzalez? Does it impact Gonzalez? Something to keep in mind. Something else to keep in mind. And this is why I lean towards a Gonzalez extension happening at some point this offseason. Because Drake May is coming up next year. You'll have to make a decision on Drake May's fifth year. option by next May. And that should open the door to a long-term extension because what the Patriots should want to do is get their quarterback signed, sealed and delivered as early as

possible to keep the money lower. So I don't think the Patriots are going to want to do both a Gonzalez and Drake May extension next off season because that would be crazy money flying out the door. How long does this drag on? Not sure. Sauce Gardner with the Jets. He did not sign an extension until like the middle of July last year. Now, of course, Soss Gardner ended up being traded by the Jets during the season, but it's not like you have to get an extension done. The option is picked up and at any point, you can seal this deal at any point. So it could be in the next week.

It could take a few months. Again, I would not guarantee an extension. I do feel like it's going to happen, but I'm fascinated if the 8.000. A.J. Brown trade and his contract handling impacts it in any way. Another update, Robert Spillane told media on Tuesday he did not need surgery on his foot slash ankle injury from last season. And look, this is obviously vital. And it's even more vital after the draft because the Patriots did not draft a linebacker until the sixth round when they drafted Nomdi Obi. So Robert Spillane is critical to this defense. Critical.

We saw the impact of Spillane being out. We saw the impact of that in the run defense. Milton Williams and Robert Spillane, when they didn't play last year, and I know the Super Bowl was rough. But when Robert Spelaine and Milton Williams were both out there, that run defense was really good. When Spillane was gone, it wasn't as good.

When Williams was gone, it wasn't as good. Both gone, Trouble City. So if you want your run defense to be as good as it can be, you need a healthy Robert Spillane. Let's also not forget that. Robert Spillane, he communicates with the rest of the defense out there. He's pretty much the quarterback of the defense from the second level. And so when you lose him, you lose that communication,

which could open opportunities for the defense. the offense to take advantage and you give up a big player or two because it was not communicated the way you wanted that defensive play to be communicated. And linebacker depth, we're going to get more into this as we break down position by position over the next few weeks. Obviously, linebacker depth is questionable right now. And we talked a little bit about that during the mailbag episode, but questionable depth at linebacker.

So Robert Spillane, great news, did not need surgery on the foot slash ankle. Last note for you, Mike Reese wrote at ESPN that Kishan Booty, even though he was not in the building for week one of the voluntary program, and we knew that because Kishan Booty went to social media and shared pictures sitting on a beach. Kishon Booty, according to Mike Reese was, he was in Foxborough the week before the voluntary program began. So I would imagine that was to have a conversation with somebody, multiple people in the building. And I know, I think it was Mike Vrable, if not Elliot Wolf, who mentioned last week that they were aware that Bouti was not going to be there week one of the program. And so it just makes sense. He was in the building the week before the voluntary program. Obviously, there was some kind of communication between the two sides that he was not going to be there week one of the voluntary program.

I still think Kishan Booty is gone. He's walking into a contract year. The Patriots are going to bring in A.J. Brown and with A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs and trying to develop Kyle Williams, see if he can make that leap. Mack Hollins, Hunter Henry. You just, you have a lot of mouths to feed. And I think it would be better for Kishan Booty to go somewhere else where he might get, you know, more targets. He might get that opportunity to earn a. contract extension that he no doubt is looking for and hoping for.

All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that thumbs up for us. Hit that like button and subscribe. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots ad free plus members only discord access and more.

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