New England Patriots executive Eliot Wolf has been tasked with trying to quickly turn a struggling franchise back into a contender, and he says there is one thing he wishes he had done differently this offseason.
Wolf was promoted to executive vice president of player personnel earlier this month, but he has been operating as the de factor general manager in New England since Bill Belichick’s departure. In a Tuesday appearance on the “Up & Adams Show” with Kay Adams, Wolf admitted that he has one regret so far from the offseason — he wishes he would have drafted more defensive players.
“My one regret so far from this offseason particularly with the draft — we had eight draft picks and only drafted one defensive player,” Wolf said, as transcribed by Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “I’ve apologized to (defensive coordinator DeMarcus) Covington for that. Obviously, he wanted what’s best for the team, too. That’s one regret I have so far, but we’ll see how it goes. We do feel good about the guys we have.”
The Patriots had a solid defense last season that kept them in many games despite the offense being the NFL’s worst. New England’s two best defensive players, Christian Gonzalez and Matthew Judon, also missed most of the season with injuries.
Though they lost some key players on the defensive side of the ball in Adrian Phillips, Jalen Mills and Lawrence Guy, the Patriots are still projected to have one of the better defenses in the NFL in 2024. Their offense is what needed the most work, which is why Wolf decided to take a quarterback in Drake Maye at No. 3 overall, two wide receivers, and two offensive linemen with the team’s first five draft picks.
Time will tell if defensive depth is an issue for the Patriots, but you can understand why the Patriots turned down at least one big draft trade and largely ignored the defensive side of the ball. Their offense has simply been that bad over the past two seasons, which is why Wolf felt so much urgency to improve it.
