All of those points offered a glimpse into the football direction the new regime might be headed, which was refreshing to hear. Some tidbits that stood out:
On the quarterback class:
“It’s a good year for quarterbacks. One trait that I’m really excited about, all these quarterbacks have, at least at the top of the draft, is they’re all really tough guys. That’s a great place to start at any position, but particularly quarterback. As the defensive linemen get faster and stronger, these guys get hit more often. Durability is really important.”
On the new grading system:
“We changed the grading system. It’s similar to what we did in Green Bay. The previous Patriots system was more, ‘This is what the role is’ and this is more kind of value-based. It makes it a lot easier for scouts to rate guys and put them in a stack of this guy’s the best, this guy is the worst, and everything in between falls into place.”
“At the core it’s draft and develop. But there are different ways throughout the year to supplement your team, whether that’s free agency, trades, waiver claims. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you just say, ‘Oh, we aren’t going to do free agency this year. As we ascend in this program, there’ll be times when it maybe doesn’t make sense to sign as many high-priced free agents. But we have the resources, and we have a lot of improvement that’s needed within the roster.”
The deadline to use the franchise tag has arrived and the Patriots have yet to use it. Teams have until 4 p.m ET on Tuesday to place a player under either the franchise of transition tag, but so far the Patriots have shied away from it. Both Wolf and Mayo expressed the desire to retain pending free agents Mike Onwenu and Kyle Dugger among others, but it’s clear the tag wasn’t the preferred method.
“That’s always an option,” Mayo said. “But at the same time, with guys like that, you want those guys to be happy. You…
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