Wolf held his role atop the front office for the first time last year.
The New England Patriots 2024 season did not go as planned in Eliot Wolf’s first year as executive vice president of player personnel.
Speaking for the first time since training camp at the NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday, Wolf took the blame for the roster’s performance.
“Last season, ultimately the roster was on me. We were 4-13. Just didn’t get enough done,” Wolf said. “Certainly the free agency class didn’t live up to our expectations, the draft class — it’s too soon to tell — but we were expecting a bigger impact from some of those guys, and we’re still hopeful that they’ll get to that point.”
While Wolf’s first free agency class featured several internal re-signings, his external additions were mainly misses. Offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor and Nick Leverett were not with the team by midseason — in addition to wide receiver K.J. Osborn.
Sione Takitaki was then released this offseason after playing a minor role on the defense as he battled a knee injury.
Now set to approach this year’s free agency with a league-high $130-plus million in projected cap space, Wolf is ready to learn from his mistakes in order to improve the roster this time around.
“Just being more thorough. Just some of the information that we got on some of the players wasn’t as thorough as it needed to be,” Wolf said. “So I think just moving forward we have a tremendous opportunity with this coaching staff. Like a lot of these guys have been other places, they’re familiar with these guys and just having that familiarity with players is going to be an advantage for us moving forward.”
Atop the to-do list this offseason will be upgrading both the offensive and defensive lines. New England’s offensive line ranked among the worst teams in the league in pass block win rate with the fourth most quarterback knockdowns.
“Every hit on Jacoby [Brissett] or Drake [Maye] during the season I felt responsible for that. Just ultimately we didn’t we didn’t get enough done up front. The game is always won on the lines,” Wolf explained.
On the defensive side of the football, New England was last in the league in sacks per game. Wolf highlighted how the defensive line is a strength in this year’s NFL Draft while several top interior rushers are also set to hit the free agency market.
“These guys that are elite up front — pushing the middle of the pocket, making the quarterback move, get off the spot — like there’s a premium on those guys,” he said. “That’s why you see some of these guys getting paid and being drafted earlier because of the impact they can have on all three downs.”
As the Patriots are set to enter free agency with over $30 million dollars more in cap space then the next closest team, they will be aggressive in searching for upgrades — which could include using almost all of their available space if the right situation unfolds.
“I just think we’re going to do what we have to do,” Wolf said. “I think it’s probably not responsible to spend the whole thing but again, that’s not to say we won’t do it if there’s players out there that can fill a role for us.”