Mike Vrabel joins Tom E. Curran for an exclusive discussion on a new episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.
Mike Vrabel was mostly complimentary of Eliot Wolf in his first day on the job as New England Patriots head coach. But one comment he made about the team's executive vice president of player personnel is worth revisiting.
In a 1-on-1 interview with our Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran at Gillette Stadium on Monday, Vrabel insisted he's "very" comfortable working with Wolf to evaluate talent -- then added this line:
"Having talked to Eliot and getting to know him through the interview process and then some over the weekend, there were some things that maybe didn't allow him to completely invest in personnel," Vrabel told Curran.
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What exactly is Vrabel getting at here? Wolf served as the Patriots' de facto general manager following Bill Belichick's exit last January, but is Vrabel insinuating that Wolf was held back in some way in 2024? And if so, how?
Curran and fellow Patriots Insider Phil Perry joined Trenni Casey Monday on Arbella Early Edition to parse out Vrabel's comments.
"That word 'invest' is carrying a lot," Curran said. "Does he mean 'invest' as we would conventionally think? (Wolf) wasn't allowed to invest money? Well then explain the Calvin Ridley pursuit. Explain the pursuit or the re-signing to big money contracts a number of what we would call basically middling free agents. So, is that investing that he wasn't able to do there? Were they not able to invest time?"
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The Patriots reportedly made significant offers to both Ridley and Brandon Aiyuk last offseason and handed out multi-year extensions to several core players such as Mike Onwenu, Christian Barmore and Rhamondre Stevenson. So, it doesn't like Wolf had any sort of imposed spending limit in New England.
Perry's theory is that Vrabel was pointing out how Wolf made a concerted effort to collaborate with last year's coaching staff, perhaps deviating from how he would have operated with a bit more control.
"I think the word 'invest' is an interesting one to use in this regard," Perry said. "My guess is, the explanation for why some of the players worked or didn't work in terms of the guys that they signed or drafted this past offseason, is that the front office really leaned on the coaching staff. And they leaned on the coaching staff in order to help them make decisions that got made that ended up not working out for the most part, quite frankly.
"So, I wonder if this is Mike Vrabel's way of explaining to us, 'Eliot knows what he's doing. He's really good at his job. He was trying to be collaborative last year. He looked at the coaching staff. He was trying to take input from them and give them what they needed. It ended up not working out.'"
Perry reported Monday that Patriots owner Robert Kraft "has been impressed" by the new grading system Wolf tried to import last season and is "hopeful" it will produce more results going forward. And Vrabel does seem open to working with Wolf despite reportedly hiring executive Ryan Cowden, who worked in Tennessee's front office while Vrabel was Titans head coach.
So, for now, it sounds like New England's unorthodox front office will remain intact, with Wolf potentially getting another shot to prove his worth entering a critical offseason with a brand-new coaching staff that (in theory) should do a better job developing the players he brings in.
