After Plenty Of Warranted Scrutiny, Eliot Wolf Deserve Tremendous Credit

Eliot Wolf and John Schneider, both products of the Packers’ long-standing “draft, develop, repeat” philosophy under Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson, have ultimately adapted that foundation to modern roster-building realities. While both executives still emphasize building through the draft, their teams’ paths to Super Bowl LX reflect a more flexible approach that incorporates aggressive free agency, trades, and other acquisition methods. This represents a notable departure from the traditionally conservative Green Bay model that shaped their early careers.

For the Patriots, Wolf’s first year as executive vice president of player personnel exposed the limitations of relying primarily on the draft when the roster base is thin and a draft class underperforms. With significant holes across the roster and more than $100 million in cap space, New England pivoted heavily toward free agency, ranking first in league spending. While the organization still intends to prioritize drafting and development going forward—bolstered by a stronger 2025 draft outlook—the 2024 offseason was about rapidly supplementing the roster to become competitive.

Seattle followed a similar, though less extreme, path. Schneider has generally built more successfully through the draft, but even the Seahawks leaned heavily on external acquisitions this offseason, ranking third in free-agent spending and committing roughly $243 million. In both cases, the front offices recognized that rigid adherence to draft-only team building was insufficient to accelerate contention in the current NFL landscape.

Wolf emphasized that modern roster construction must leverage every available avenue: draft, free agency, trades, waiver claims, and opportunistic signings. He pointed to players like Milton Williams—young, ascending talents who become available due to other teams’ cap constraints—as examples of market inefficiencies worth exploiting. The Patriots’ ability to spend aggressively, with ownership support, allowed them to capitalize on these rare opportunities to improve both short-term competitiveness and long-term upside.

Looking ahead, New England’s philosophy reflects a blend of influences from Green Bay, the Patriots’ own institutional practices, and leadership voices such as Mike Vrabel and other front-office executives. With 12 draft picks in the upcoming draft, including five in the first four rounds, the Patriots aim to rebalance toward drafting and development while remaining open to trades and strategic spending. The broader takeaway is that while Wolf and Schneider remain philosophically aligned with draft-centric team building, their success in reaching Super Bowl LX underscores a pragmatic evolution: adapt roster-building methods to circumstances, or fall behind.