The director of scouting for Next England made a significant move toward the organization’s next chapter by walking a tightrope in terms of public opinion after an all-time great.
Eliot Wolf, the director of scouting for the New England Patriots, informed the assembled crowd on Tuesday at the combine that the team was switching the draft grading system from the traditional Bill Belichick scale—which places a lot of emphasis on a player’s potential role—to one that is more focused on the Green Bay Packers. Wolf said that because the Packers’ scale is more “value-based,” scouts can stack prospects more readily.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate how amazing that previous phrase was for a few reasons before moving on to our main argument.
- At the scouting combine, a scouting staff member for the Patriots gave a public speech.
- A Patriots player acknowledged that the group used a grading system.
- One of the Patriots acknowledged the original intent of the grading system.
- A Patriots player acknowledged that the group was modifying its grading system.
- It was not shortly after that a Patriot was tossed into the trunk of an unmarked Camry and transported to a secret location where his identity was removed.
Welcome to one of the organization’s first major actions in the post-Belichick period. The Patriots came to Indianapolis with the difficult task of gracefully ushering in a new era while paying respect to one of the most significant individuals in the history of the team; this individual was infamous for his desire to control every aspect of the team and whose methods finally proved ineffective enough to necessitate a breakup.
Let’s recognize for a minute how hard it is to pluck the correct notes in this situation.
We would have perceived Wolf’s response as an insultingly bad imitation, raising concerns about why the team would go on in the first place, if he had stood up and answered every question in a monotone, breathing hard through each one as if every reporter was preventing him from receiving an emergency heart transplant.
The battle lines would have been etched in the sands of public opinion if Wolf had emerged and tramped on an effigy of Bill Belichick while spinning his quarter zip above his head and screaming No, more pens, no more books, no more bad glances from teachers. On one side are the Patriots, and on the other is a coach who, I assume, will soon have a huge platform on some television network every Sunday—with a vested interest in both defending and elevating his image to the point where he becomes a sought-after head coaching candidate once more in 2025. The Patriots wouldn’t want to fight.
Wolf had other, more reasonable possibilities, of doubt, but you get the idea.
There was a narrow path to follow, and Wolf seemed to have taken it admirably when he acknowledged that the team’s final culture would be less “hard ass” (a claim that I found less debatable than clear because, in contrast to Belichick, any program will inevitably be less difficult). Wolf also discussed the weaponization of the offensive, which might potentially be seen as a hard shift if we were genuinely trying to infer some sort of defiance from a press conference speech that was not well contextualized. The Patriots acknowledged on Tuesday, both verbally and physically, that life would be different.
However, there was also an implicit awareness that for most of their adult lives, the person who did it before them defined what it meant to be a football coach in America.
I frequently point out that the Patriots used Cam Newton as a sort of punching bag between the Tom Brady and Mac Jones eras because it shows that even Belichick was concerned about the emotional toll of having the best player replace the greatest. And that should dispel any question for the rest of us if Belichick, the most narratively challenged person in professional football, feels that perceived greatness and an apparent heir should be kept apart.
Belichick is being dismissed now, but the circumstances are very different. He represented the Patriots group. Saran’s mentality was that of one guy. around the whole building. The Patriots organization now consists of a motley crew with diverse origins, perspectives, and emotional responses.
Rather than yearning for what was left behind, their early attempts at standing together have left the majority of us feeling hopeful and inquisitive about what lies ahead. It is important to remember the magnitude of that work and its instant success. The difficulty now is maintaining it that way in light of the new freedoms, cultures, and grading schemes.
