The New England Patriots are one of the worst teams in football for a second consecutive season.
Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf admitted a major organizational shortcoming in development, particularly at the wide receiver position, when reflecting on the 2024 season.
Rookie wideouts Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker both fell off a cliff in production with the Patriots, despite being highly touted coming out of college.
“We’re 3-13, so not good enough. Let’s start there,” Wolf said, via FOX Sports’ Henry McKenna. “We had a lot of needs. I would say that I guess personally, what I was expecting maybe a little bit more internal development, which is a good lesson certainly heading into next year, and that you can’t always rely on that. The rookie receivers didn’t have it really that much for us. And, you know, Polk was sort of in our estimation a plug-and-play. … Ultimately, to answer to your question, our record speaks for itself. We didn’t do enough.”
The organization will have a chance to rectify the personnel missteps in 2025. Their first major move heading into the offseason was firing Jerod Mayo as head coach after the season finale on Sunday. The next order of business will be hiring a replacement.
They already know what Drake Maye brings to the table as a young quarterback, and they will also have the most salary cap space in the league.
But none of that means a thing if they fail to develop the talent on their roster.
