Eliot Wolf Drafts Offense To Help Drake Maye

By Steve Atkinson

The first five picks for Eliot Wolf’s first draft were all on offense. The last draft was for Bill Belichick last year and he drafted defense with the first three picks. Eliot Wolf has done more to help Drake Maye in this draft than Belichick did in the draft the last three years to help Mac Jones.

Eliot Wolf drafted two quarterbacks, two wide receivers, a tight end, a left tackle, and a guard. The only defensive player Wolf drafted was in the sixth round. The first offensive player the Patriots drafted last year was in the sixth round.

Eliot Wolf Said What He Was Going To Do In The Draft

Wolf stated time and time again since the combine that they need to weaponize the offense. The Packer Way is to draft and develop and since the defense is pretty solid the focus was on offense. Having Mayo is great because he doesn’t have an ego like Belichick did. Belichick wanted credit for everything and it was everyone else’s fault when things didn’t go his way.

Mayo understood that the focus of the draft would be offense.

You know, I had to take off my defensive hat and put on my head coaching hat. We had more holes on the offensive side of the ball. You guys knew that. Defensively we feel pretty good about the players that we have, and we feel good about some of those players leaping here in their second and third year. We’re pretty comfortable with that. At the same time, we’ll continue to add pieces as we go.

The Patriots can’t repeat the same mistakes they did with Mac Jones. Drafting defense when you have a rookie quarterback doesn’t cut it. Naming defensive and special teams coaches to run the offense doesn’t work either. Alex Van Pelt brings in a different system that starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett knows how to run. Brissett is a great mentor for a rookie quarterback and adding Joe Milton provides a great backup for Maye in the future.

Adding Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker to this draft is pretty huge. Baker and Drake Maye had a connection already when they were both committed to Alabama. Who would’ve thought to draft a receiver that already has a connection with the rookie quarterback?

Drake Maye will just take this year to develop and grow. He won’t play and really shouldn’t they don’t want to rush him out there when he’s not ready and they’d be in the same spot three years from now. Sit him for a season then go out in the 2025 offseason and get you’re number one receiver. Polk and Baker could be the number two receivers.

So what does that mean for Tyquan Thornton and JuJu Smith-Schuster? They will both be probably traded or cut just like arrogant backup Bailey Zappe.

Here was Mayo’s answer when asked about the receivers.

I’ll start with (Ja’Lynn) Polk. He’s one of those guys that before we even get to the main responsibility of a receiver as far as get open, catch the ball, and run with it, he’s one of those guys that isn’t afraid to do the dirty work. When we talk about the dirty work, obviously we have a good set of backs. But sometimes you need those receivers to come in there and kind of dig out support, and he does that at a very high level. Now, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of Polk. He’s one of those guys, smooth route runner, has good hands, can do a lot of different things and he’s smart. That’s one thing that we covered around here. He’s flexible and can play in different spots, and I’m excited to really see him out there. Then really, when you talk about Javon (Baker), look, you talk about the run after catch, the run after catch, this guy is aggressive, and I would say Bake is all about — he’s all ball. He’s all ball, which I can appreciate. You can see the passion come through when you watch them on film. These two guys that obviously have different skill sets but at the same time will help our team going forward.