Who is Eliot Wolf? Get to Know Patriots' New 'GM'
He's Eliot Wolf. He solves problems.
The New England Patriots certainly hope so: the departure of longtime head coach/general manager Bill Belichick has respectively given way to Jerod Mayo and Wolf, who is expected to hold the latter title ... without the formal title.
"I think Eliot Wolf is a key name here, and he is the director of scouting," Mike Reiss of ESPN noted in a recent edition of "Zolak and Bertrand" on WBZ-FM. "I believe that he’s positioned himself here as a key guy, almost like the general manager without the title. I got to tell you guys, I mean, depending on who you talk to around the league, like this is a very well-respected front office person."
Relative anonymity should serve Wolf well as he prepares to embark on a lengthy renovation project: Patriots fans require little reminder as to how Belichick's otherwise lauded tenure ended and Wolf is firmly in that beleaguered camp, having lingered in scouting and consulting roles with the team over the past five seasons.
For better or worse, Wolf will serve as one of the primary faces of the Patriots' potential path back to greatness so the fanbase would be wise to get to know him ...
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The Family Business
This whelp has moved on from the pack: Wolf partly picked up where his father, Hall of Fame front office rep Ron, left off with the Green Bay Packers: Eliot lingered in the team's personnel departments for over a decade (2004-17), earning a Super Bowl rings for his trouble after the 2010 campaign.
Former NFL general manager Mike Lombardi says that brand of "loyalty" shouldn't unnoticed.
"Eliot's a very loyal personnel man, and when I use the word 'loyal' to describe a personnel man, that means he'll say what he thinks. He's not going to say what people want to hear," Lombardi said in an interview with Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston. "There are two kinds of personnel men: he first kind is the one who will say what he thinks. That's the loyal one. The one who says what you want to hear is the devoted one. There's a difference between loyalty and devotion. Eliot will say what he thinks."
Patriots fans certainly hope Eliot follows in his father's footsteps: Ron built his Canton case by rebuilding a previously downtrodden Packers franchise (one that missed the postseason on eight consecutive occasions) from the ground up, putting the team back in the playoffs two years into his tenure as general manager and in the Super Bowl by year six.
Killer Genuine Drafts
Whereas Belichick developed a reputation for being a miner of draft day diamonds in the rough at multiple positions, insiders claim that Wolf will be more of a "best player available" type of chooser.
With his work in the draft, Wolf ensured that his father's work with the Packers would not stall, as he put the team on a strong pace in the prior decade with strong premier selections that would make vital contributions.
“I can tell you Eliot Wolf is a big believer, or, I know Green Bay was, and his dad was, at finding the best players,” NFL.com draft expert Lance Zierlein said on Mass Live's "Eye on Foxborough" podcast. “Go get good players to put on your roster, and don’t worry about the positions, because good players help you win championships.”
Such conversations perhaps begin and end with Aaron Rodgers, who was chosen in 2005 despite Brett Favre being the unprecedented and undeniable starter. But Wolf also stood in the department that cashed in on numerous premier picks that embraced the best player philosophy, including Davante Adams, Greg Jennings, Clay Matthews, and more. He later served as the Cleveland Browns' assistant as the team's general manager in 2018, when the team chose Baker Mayfield as the top overall pick in a talented yet volatile passing class.
