If the New England Patriots find a blue-chip player available before the start of the regular season, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf won’t hesitate to part with a valuable draft pick or other assets to improve the roster.
Wolf, in his second year leading the personnel department in New England, now teams with head coach Mike Vrabel after Jerod Mayo was fired following his only season as head coach.
“Yeah, absolutely. We’re talking to all 31 teams and trying to do what’s best for us,” Wolf said Monday. “I think those things are often a lot more complicated than the fans and some others would like to make you believe. But if there is something we think can help us, we’d definitely be open to it.”
The Patriots are attempting to advance from a rebuilding phase that’s seen two four-win seasons since 2023, Bill Belichick’s final year with the franchise.
Vrabel arrived one year behind quarterback Drake Maye, the third overall pick in the 2024 draft, in hopes of rapidly restoring the dynasty he was once a part of in New England.
But Wolf said on Monday the “right thing for the team” might be parting with a key building block, or future first- or second-round draft choice.
“If there was a player out there that we feel like can help us, and it costs that, then we would consider doing that,” he said.
Other than the trade the Patriots made to acquire Belichick in 2000 from the Jets for a first-round pick, one of the most important trades in the team’s recent history came with Vrabel on the roster in 2007. The Patriots traded a fourth-round pick to the Raiders for Randy Moss, who had 98 receptions for 1,493 yards and 23 touchdowns in his first year with them.
Wolf’s father, Ron Wolf, built a Super Bowl roster around a trade for then-Falcons quarterback Brett Favre and the signing of game-changing defensive end Reggie White. The Packers traded a first-round pick to Atlanta in 1992.
The Patriots are committed to Maye, but whether Vrabel has the pieces he needs on defense is open to debate without evidence of a regular-season game.
Current NFL holdouts who’ve made public trade requests might be fits in New England. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks last season. Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons is a perennial All-Pro with at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons.