Louis Riddick’s name has been floated as a possible NFL GM in the news recently. It’s been the view here that he’d be just what the Patriots need and have needed for years.
Earlier this month, ESPN’s top NFL insider, Adam Schefter wrote,
"Included on the list of candidates expected to interview for the Jets job are former Titans general manager Jon Robinson, who at one point helped build one of the league's better rosters in Tennessee, and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, who previously has worked in the Philadelphia and Washington front offices."
The only shock is that it's taken so long for NFL teams to pinpoint Riddick as an ideal candidate. His resume speaks for itself. He's a highly-respected former player, former Director of Pro Personnel for two NFL franchises, key analyst, draft expert, etc.
The relevance to our New England Patriots is obvious. As they did with Bill Belichick, they should scoop the Jets, summon Riddick to Foxborough, and give him the keys to the team’s personnel operation as President of Football Operations. Let's explore how and why that works.
The Patriots still need a top personnel chief
While one offseason doesn’t a GM's career make, the personnel management team installed by Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft after summarily dismissing Bill Belichick from that job and his head coaching role has flopped.
It wasn't even a new team he hired; it was Belichick’s substandard personnel operation he kept, the same group that had advised Belichick. It was another in the long string of management gaffes made by the owner Kraft over the past several years.
The demise began by allowing Tom Brady to leave and continued when Kraft didn’t allow Belichick
to exit with dignity either. He unceremoniously dumped the reputed all-time best coach and replaced him with two neophytes.
As Head Coach, he installed Jerod Mayo, who’d never been a head coach at any level, as the Patriots' Head Coach. And, as mentioned, he kept on an ineffective personnel staff who helped lead Belichick down a primrose path to last place in the AFC East.
Eliot Wolf was elevated to Executive vice president of Personnel. He then proceeded to conduct arguably one of the worst offseasons in team history, which was only mitigated by the ostensibly Kraft-dictated drafting of quarterback Drake Maye.
Neither hire made sense. Mike Vrabel was and remains the best choice for Head Coach. Any experienced NFL personnel person was preferable to Wolf. That’s where Louis Riddick enters the picture and could have and should have last offseason.
Louis Riddick is the choice as Patriots’ President of Football Operations
The Krafts dug themselves a massive hole last offseason. Wolf failed to address the second most important player on the team, the left tackle, at all, and the offensive line and quarterbacks suffered accordingly. Wolf has proven he isn't the solution.
That’s the Krafts' dilemma. Yet, there is a way out of this personnel management conundrum. (As for Head Coach, not so easy.) Kraft gave Wolf the title of Executive Vice President of Player Personnel. As noted previously, this demonstrated at least some trepidation on his part. Why not appoint him President of something? This equivocation is Kraft's way out of this mess.
Kraft can “layer over” Wolf and appoint a qualified NFL personnel person to take the reins. That's where Louis Riddick steps in. It can be argued that Riddick, like Wolf, has never been an NFL General Manager, a fair point. Yet he did serve as Director of Player Personnel for two NFL teams in the past, Washington and Philadelphia, for a total of seven years.
He's also a former player, a huge advantage in dealing with players. That simpatico cannot be overestimated. Players respect former players. It will be an asset, especially in recruiting free agents, an area in which the Patriots are lacking.
Riddick is a keen observer of the NFL draft. He certainly understands that "reaching" outside the consensus on players is almost always disastrous. Recent Patriots' high picks, Cole Strange and Tyquan Thornton, both massive reaches, are painful examples by Belichick and Wolf.
Kraft has an opportunity to maneuver out of his self-created personnel mess. He can hire Riddick or another top NFL person as President of Football Operations to run things. And no one has to lose his job.
The Krafts' best moves all along were to hire Vrabel as Head Coach and Mayo as Assistant HC and defensive coordinator and to bring in a top personnel man to provide the players. He bungled both. Let’s see if he can remedy at least one of these messes. He should hire a top personnel man, Louis Riddick is the choice here, right after the season ends. If he waits very long, it may be too late.