FOXBOROUGH — Eliot Wolf spoke to reporters for about 20 minutes today ahead of the draft, which kicks off in a week. Not a ton of breaking news or real information came out, as usual in these sorts of things, but here are the key interactions, and then we'll get into what we thought and some insight we have gleaned:
- On possibly trading the third pick: "Ongoing,” Wolf said. “We’re open to anything. Moving up. Moving down. We’re open for business in the first round and in every round. We have some holes we feel like we need to fill in the draft. We’re a draft and develop team. The more picks we have, the better. But if there’s an opportunity to move up and strike if the board recommends it, then we won’t be afraid to pull the trigger on that either.”
- On the evaluations of QBs, Wolf said "we haven’t had that final conversation yet, but I do think there’s a general idea of how we feel about these players," and added, "all six of these quarterbacks that are kind of the top guys."
On if they would be comfortable selecting any number of QBs at 3, Wolf said: "I think we'd be comfortable with it."
- Wolf doesn't really look at age, but is looking for upside. "We don’t really look at the age specifically, just more of the skill set. All of these guys have been coached well in college. Some longer than others, but, we feel like every individual situation is different.”
“It’s a long-term decision. We look at upside.”
- Wolf thinks people are sleeping on the Patriots' offensive personnel and it can support a rookie QB.
"We have NFL receivers, we have NFL tight ends, we have NFL running backs, we have NFL offensive linemen,” he said. “We feel good about where we are and we feel through free agency – on the offensive side in particular – that we’ve been able to supplement our roster properly so we’re not having to draft for need as much offensively.”
“We have a solid offensive line. We re-signed Mike Onwenu. We have David Andrews coming back. We have three rookies [Jake Andrews, Atonio Mafi, and Sidy Sow] that we drafted last year that are developing. We signed Okorafor from the Steelers.”
“We’re going to have the support that’s needed for that quarterback, if we draft one, whoever it is. We’re going to have a situation where they’re supported in every way possible to make them succeed.”
- Okorafor would be the starter at LT tackle, where he played some in college. "So we went back and watched that film – obviously evaluated him when he was coming out – and he’s an athletic, big guy. So we feel like he can make that transition, or make that transition back to playing on the left. But that is probably more of a question for Coach Mayo.”
- Patriots could be looking for an X boundary receiver — and they have already had trade discussion on trading for at WR, and other positions.
“I think we have players that can line up and play at ‘X’. Do we have players that on a three-by-one can beat the backside coverage every single time? I’m not sure we have that just yet. But we certainly have good receivers that we’re excited about working with. K.J. Osborn can play all three positions. We have Kendrick Bourne coming back. Pop, JuJu [Smith-Schuster], the list goes on. We feel like we have NFL receivers.”
"Are you talking about trading for a receiver? We’ve had conversations with teams about different scenarios,” Wolf said. “Not just at receiver, but at other positions. That’s definitely something that we’d be open to.”
BSJ ANALYSIS
So, basically, we don't know what the Patriots are going to do.
A few things I can tell you:
- Because the Patriots pick so high at third overall, the chances are not very good that someone will offer a trade that will make them move off the spot.
- The Patriots know who they are going to pick depending on what Washington does. That hay is in the barn. No, I don't know who that is.
- JJ McCarthy is definitely in the mix for the Patriots' third overall pick.
- They're looking for a great player, that's the goal, but the feeling in the building is that you can win with good in today's NFL.
- They like that no one has any idea what they're going to do, and that was the goal ... so the Patriots are no different than any other team - they're putting misinformation out there.
- Outside of that, I really have no clue what they are going to do. ... Wonderful!