The New England Patriots have made some major changes to their front office and coaching staff this offseason, and they still plan to make one more significant hire.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported on Monday that the Patriots are searching for a top executive to run their football operations department. It is unclear what the person’s exact title would be, but the belief is that he or she would outrank all other football executives in the organization.
Eliot Wolf has been operating as the de facto general manager of the Patriots since Bill Belichick left. Belichick had the final say over all football decisions when he was with the team. In addition to being head coach, he had an official title with New England that was categorized as “primary football executive.”
Wolf is a candidate for the top executive role, according to Jones. However, the Patriots would have to satisfy the Rooney Rule by interviewing at least two external minority candidates even if they wanted to give Wolf the job.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said earlier this year that he was trusting his current staff to handle football decisions for the time being. That led to doubt about whether the team would even bother conducting a search for a head of football operations. With the NFL Draft already in the books, there is no real need for the Patriots to rush a decision.
