For much of the past year, the Patriots have been criticized for one of the biggest whiffs of the 2024 offseason, which was not expected with the new regime leading the charge. They had a large amount of cap space to use in free agency and great positioning in the draft to utilize but fell into their old patterns of not paying the caliber of players needed and potentially missing on their top draft selections.
They head into this offseason in a similar situation, with the most cap space to use in the league and the No. 4 pick in the upcoming draft, putting them in a great spot to dramatically makeover their roster ahead of next year.
However, the growing concern of repeating last offseason's underwhelming performance has been looming over the team, especially since Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf is still in charge of making the decisions. Because he made more mistakes than good choices last year, there's not much belief that things will be different this time around.
He addressed those concerns in his opening statement at the NFL Combine on Wednesday and seemingly put the growing narrative (mostly) to rest.
Eliot Wolf takes full responsibility for the lackluster free agent signings and poor production of Patriots 2024 roster
Knowing that he will be in a hot seat once free agency begins in a couple of weeks, Wolf immediately addressed perhaps the biggest concern about the Patriots team upon taking position in front of reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
His opening statement was filled with taking responsibility for the roster's shortcomings last season, admitting it was all on his shoulders as the decision-maker on the final 53, while recognizing some of the most prominent issues stemming from those misses.
#Patriots EVP Eliot Wolf gave a very genuine opening statement:
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) February 26, 2025
“Last season, ultimately the roster was on me.”
“Every hit on Jacoby or Drake during the season — I felt responsible for that.” pic.twitter.com/teFTE0zyOR
Although actions will ultimately speak louder than words once free agency begins next month, it's still good to hear Wolf take ownership of a major part of what led to the Patriots' failed 2024 season.
With a more established and experienced head coach to work with this year, along with some of those Mike Vrabel brought along with him, the hope is Wolf will be able to put together a much better class of players this year that will ultimately make the kind of impact he hoped last year's players would, especially now that they have Drake Maye leading the offense.
They have the money to spend on the kind of playmakers they need and great draft positioning to get some of the top players of the class on the team. They're in a better spot to do that despite the holes on the roster that need to be addressed. Hopefully, this won't be a topic of conversation again next year; instead, we will talk about the great players he was able to bring in.