Reiss on Wolf’s draft philosophy

[upstater1]

Cole Strange was the first time I didn’t know who they had just taken in the first round. Granted I had become discouraged at really looking at the draft closely by years of Belichick making choices I really wasn’t expecting, but I still always knew who they had taken with their first round pick.

I knew about Strange from following the Senior Bowl. I just think it was a matter of looking to trade down for lack of value, and also for lack of tackles. We've been looking for tackles for a full 6 years now since we took Wynn. There is a huge premium on these players.

 

[upstater1]

The whole sequence on the Strange pick was baffling and still bothers me. McDuffie fell right on their laps. Consensus blue chipper loved by every scout. Now an all pro.

Not revisionist or hindsight, there was a lot of clamoring for that pick here.

There was just as much for Kaiir Elam. A lot of negative on both. Mostly we wanted LBs Lloyd or Nakobe Dean.

 

[Ivan]

I knew about Strange from following the Senior Bowl. I just think it was a matter of looking to trade down for lack of value, and also for lack of tackles. We've been looking for tackles for a full 6 years now since we took Wynn. There is a huge premium on these players.

I’m sure many of you knew who Strange was, as this site has probably the best draft forum of any team in football. I don’t agree with all the takes, but the forum is deep in posters who know their **** about the Draft. I was more into the Draft before 2010 or so, but many of my outside interests became more pronounced than football, and my focus changed to many other things. Even now I don’t have the extra time to really dig into it the way I once did, but the changes in the Patriots this offseason have re energized it to a degree.

 

[Brotherblues]

There was just as much for Kaiir Elam. A lot of negative on both. Mostly we wanted LBs Lloyd or Nakobe Dean.

From what I recall the noise for those guys was mostly after trading down and having passed on McDuffie.

 

[Ivan]

There was just as much for Kaiir Elam. A lot of negative on both. Mostly we wanted LBs Lloyd or Nakobe Dean.

I wanted Lloyd, as I knew that Kyle Hamilton and Jameson Williams were never going to make it to them, and Belichick wouldn’t move up for them. Overall that was one of the less interesting draft classes imo.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

From that read, the evaluation and selection process seems more disciplined and less fragmented than what we've heard about the last few years with the Pats. And it sounds like they got away from BPA a bit. But that's all hearsay, of course.

Last year I think Gonzo, White, and Mapu were all BPA picks. The Pats have almost always been BPA although there were some exceptions, like when we chose LTs or TEs in the first round.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Puff piece. It even contradicts itself. It talks about Wolf's pick of Jennings, a successful pick, and then says a key ingredient is admitting mistakes. But none of Wolf's mistakes are mentioned. Haha.

As Mayo plays nice with the media, we will get a lot of puff pieces.

 

[Ivan]

Puff piece. It even contradicts itself. It talks about Wolf's pick of Jennings, a successful pick, and then says a key ingredient is admitting mistakes. But none of Wolf's mistakes are mentioned. Haha.

As Mayo plays nice with the media, we will get a lot of puff pieces.

But Wolf didn’t write the article. We will see if he lives up to that phisolophy but I won’t knock him for that. I’m just going to be phisolophical about it.

 

[signbabybrady]

Last year I think Gonzo, White, and Mapu were all BPA picks. The Pats have almost always been BPA although there were some exceptions, like when we chose LTs or TEs in the first round.

They've made their share of needs based picks but Bill generally was a BPA guy. Confusion comes in because his idea of who the BPA was varied because he emphasized character traits more than most GMs and kind of figured at this level the minute differences in athleticism wasn't as big a deal as most think. (I hope I said this right lol)

 

[Ivan]

Puff piece. It even contradicts itself. It talks about Wolf's pick of Jennings, a successful pick, and then says a key ingredient is admitting mistakes. But none of Wolf's mistakes are mentioned. Haha.

As Mayo plays nice with the media, we will get a lot of puff pieces.

They are already giving him some passes. I don’t think I saw a negative word about him making his brother the Strength and Conditioning Coach.

 

[Ivan]

They've made their share of needs based picks but Bill generally was a BPA guy. Confusion comes in because his idea of who the BPA was varied because he emphasized character traits more than most GMs and kind of figured at this level the minute differences in athleticism wasn't as big a deal as most think. (I hope I said this right lol)

Agree with this completely. Belichick put a high value on mental and character qualities of prospects, and it seemed like it caused him to take lesser athletes, which eventually catches up with you. Character always matters, but ultimately better athletes tend to win.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

They are already giving him some passes. I don’t think I saw a negative word about him making his brother the Strength and Conditioning Coach.

There will be a lot of posters that will love the puff pieces because that makes them feel that the team is doing better. Very difficult to be more than a middling, edge of the playoffs team. The team and media "working together" is not going to get us to the Conference Championship game.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

Positive = puff piece
Negative = hard-hitting analysis

 

[upstater1]

From what I recall the noise for those guys was mostly after trading down and having passed on McDuffie.

?? But they had gone way earlier. Elam went 23, just 2 picks after McDuffie, and the Bills traded up to get him because they were scared of a run. Lloyd was considered a drop, because he was pegged to go middle of the 1st round.

My take on what happened was that there was a run on OL which surprised everyone, but it also sent a lot of highly rated defenders down: McDuffie, Walker, Jermaine Johnson, Lloyd, Wyatt.

 

[holyredeemer]

Andrew Brandt, who was a vice president with the Packers from 1999 to 2008 when Wolf was in the initial years of his full-time career as a scout, starts with a story that further solidified his belief in Wolf's acumen.

"I'm a big fan of Eliot. Every now and then I'd walk by his office and ask him what he was looking at, and one time [in 2006] I remember he said, 'I want to show you someone. We're going to take this kid in the second round tomorrow -- Greg Jennings, a receiver from Western Michigan.' And I was like, 'Really? We're going to take a kid from Western Michigan in the second round?' And Eliot just kept saying he hoped he wouldn't go before then," Brandt relayed.

Then he's showing me the tape and pointing out the body control, the hands, the strength. And he felt there was no question it would transfer to the [NFL]."

"I believed before, during and after [my tenure] in the Packer Way, which in simplest terms is 'no quick fixes, slow and steady, trust your scouting, trust your board and almost mandate that your coaches play young players,'" Brandt said. "So it's draft and develop, and then speaking to my end [as a negotiator], once you identify those core players, get them under extensions way before free agency."

NFL Media draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call last week that the Patriots have previously been "one of the more niche drafting teams in the league where they would catch you off guard a little bit because they were so obsessed with fit and might take a guy two or three rounds before anybody else."

Jeremiah expects that to change in 2024 with Wolf taking a leading role, adding that Wolf came up through a Green Bay system that values versatile offensive linemen and receivers with dynamic yards-after-the-catch ability and added value as kick returners.

Extending your young players before they reach FA would be a nice change atleast

To be fair, Brandt was the one quoted as speaking about the Packer Way, not Wolf. When we don’t have a clue, I guess looking for every bit of detail we can find is all we can do but until we see FA and the draft go down, we’ve got no idea what Wolf’s actual philosophy is. Maybe he has evolved over the years as he’s watched the league change? Good article either way.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Positive = puff piece
Negative = hard-hitting analysis

All Positive = Puff Piece
Admits Positive and Negative = Analysis
All Negative = Hit Piece

 

[Ivan]

I was really surprised Gonzalez dropped to them. It was an obvious and great pick at that point.

The way I have approached the draft for years has been to first establish the prospects who I definitely believe will be gone when their pick comes, and then list the remaining picks as basically a mock draft proxy list. I never saw the point in listing a guy like Micah Parsons when he was going to be long gone by the time their pick came. But last year, for a change, Gonzalez was not on my list, but went to the top of it when the pick came because I still had him rated higher than all the prospects I had listed for their options for their first pick. I had Bijan Robinson listed at the top of the list of possible options on my own list. I didn’t think he would be there, but there was still an outside chance. I didn’t believe there was any chance Gonzalez would still be there.

 

[holyredeemer]

I was really surprised Gonzalez dropped to them. It was an obvious and great pick at that point.

The way I have approached the draft for years has been to first establish the prospects who I definitely believe will be gone when their pick comes, and then list the remaining picks as basically a mock draft proxy list. I never saw the point in listing a guy like Micah Parsons when he was going to be long gone by the time their pick came. But last year, for a change, Gonzalez was not on my list, but went to the top of it when the pick came because I still had him rated higher than all the prospects I had listed for their options for their first pick. I had Bijan Robinson listed at the top of the list of possible options on my own list. I didn’t think he would be there, but there was still an outside chance. I didn’t believe there was any chance Gonzalez would still be there.

This year you’re gonna have almost the entire draft to play with. It’s like Christmas baby!!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The one guy they retained but shouldn't have, Shaq Mason, I only complain about because Thuney should've been given his money.

Two points here: (1) Despite being drafted a year earlier, Mason is nearly a year younger than Thuney. (2) Mason was the most athletic lineman they had.

 

[Zuma]

Puff piece. It even contradicts itself. It talks about Wolf's pick of Jennings, a successful pick, and then says a key ingredient is admitting mistakes. But none of Wolf's mistakes are mentioned. Haha.

As Mayo plays nice with the media, we will get a lot of puff pieces.

What are Wolf’s mistakes you are referring to?