It's no secret the New England Patriots must improve their roster this upcoming offseason, but some of the most impactful changes could be made in the front office.
When the Patriots moved on from Bill Belichick last winter, they lost a legendary head coach and longtime de facto general manager who handled most of the front office duties. They replaced him on the sideline with Jerod Mayo and hired Eliot Wolf to lead the player personnel department, though they still feel the six-time Super Bowl champion's absence.
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New England's 3-12 record in Year 1 of the post-Belichick era has put both Mayo and Wolf's job security in question. On Saturday's Patriots Pregame Live, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared what he's hearing around the league about Wolf's status in Foxboro.
"I think he's still on pretty solid ground going forward," Breer said. "I think the question really is the same as what it is with Jerod Mayo, which is, what's gonna change around him? And I think this is a key point here. The Patriots are still very light when it comes to staffing on the personnel side. They addressed that on the coaching side last year going from Belichick to Mayo, but they really haven't added a whole lot to the scouting department.
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"Tom and I talked on his podcast earlier in the week about the idea of maybe adding an over-the-top guy. I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. Maybe more likely though is that they add more infrastructure. They don't really have an analytics department from an operations standpoint. Again, they're very, very light in comparison to the rest of the league, and I think this is something that they need to modernize."
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While Belichick's personnel decisions were often criticized, particularly when it came to the NFL Draft, he allowed the Patriots to operate with fewer front-office voices. Breer believes rather than parting ways with Wolf, owner Robert Kraft will surround him with fellow talent evaluators to make the new-look front office resemble others across the league.
"Bill was such a singular talent from a coaching and personnel perspective," Breer added. "He's able to do so much that when he left the building, you're really replacing like a dozen different roles. One reason the Patriots were able to be so light on both the coaching and scouting sides over the years is because Bill did so much. They replaced a lot of what he did on the coaching side. They need to do it on the scouting side now.
"You hear it from people in the building, people who've worked here, who come in from other places who say, 'Where are all the people?' So I think that's something to keep a close eye on in the coming months is what the Patriots do to try to support Eliot Wolf and the personnel staff."
Whether it's Wolf or another front-office executive making the decisions, they will have their work cut out for them during what will be another pivotal offseason. The Patriots have glaring needs at several positions, namely wide receiver and offensive tackle. They also entered Week 17 with the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and could sneak up to No. 1 by season's end.
