FOXBOROUGH — Eliot Wolf conducted the Patriots' traditional pre-draft press conference on Monday. While there was no huge news out of it, there were several notable nuggets that help explain New England's draft process.
That Wolf spoke, and not Mike Vrabel, had nothing to do with the recent NY Post story - it was announced on a press release on March 11. Vrabel did conduct the press conference last year, but everything was so new — and Vrabel had barely worked with Wolf — that the head coach likely wanted to continue speaking for the organization. A year later, everyone is familiar with each other, and everyone has carved out their roles. Vrabel did briefly appear on the media's tour of the Patriots' new facility, which was very impressive (we're not allowed to give details until the public opening).
Some key moments from the session with Wolf, who appeared way more relaxed than he has at any previous point during his tenure with the team:
• The Patriots have a new, dedicated, state-of-the-art draft room in the new facility that will house the staff during the draft. It features an enormous LED draft screen that has to be some 100 feet wide and 20 feet high. "We don't have the little magnets anymore, which a lot of people are very excited about," Wolf said. "But from a technology standpoint, it's state-of-the-art. It's first-rate. It's made things a lot easier."
• On whether the board is set yet: "It is not finalized. The college scouts are actually here now. ... We're still tweaking. We're not through every position this round yet, but, you know, they're doing some breakout groups right now on down here, working through clumps of players and just kind of making sure that we have those guys in the right order. So, I would say the hay is not quite in the barn yet."
• On if the team could move up in the draft: "We're open to anything, whatever way we can possibly improve the team, we're open to. We have 11 picks; most of those are kind of later in the draft, but we do have some flexibility with those 11 picks. I think it'll depend a little bit on how the board falls. If we view that there's a player that, whether he's falling or there's somebody that we think we need to go get, we'll be open to those opportunities."
• On how strong this draft is: "I think if you had to look historically, like this draft probably isn't great ... but if we do our job and we do everything right, we're going to be able to get a good player with every pick, and that's our intention. I feel that way about every draft no matter what happens, there's always avenues and ways to improve the team. ... I think it's a pretty strong draft on the offensive and defensive line - secondary, maybe not as much. Receiver and tight end are pretty good in comparison to some of the recent years. So yeah, we're excited about some of these opportunities, and there are some that match up to some positions of need for us."
• They're open to adding another QB in a variety of ways - could be the draft, or UDFA or pro free agency.
• I asked Wolf if the team is improved over what walked off the field at the Super Bowl: