With one week remaining until the 2024 NFL Draft, Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf held a pre-draft press conference at Gillette Stadium on Thursday.
New England’s personnel chief, who will have the final say on the Patriots selections in this year’s draft, covered a wide range of topics about the state of the roster heading into next week’s draft.
Here are the top takeaways from Wolf’s nearly 20-minute Q&A with reporters:
1. Patriots are “Open for Business” in “Ongoing” Trade Talks Involving the No. 3 Pick
During his media availability at the league meetings last month, head coach Jerod Mayo said the Patriots were open to trading down if a team offered a “bag” for the number three pick.
“If someone offers a bag, as we would say, a lot of first-round picks, we definitely have to talk about those things as we continue to put together the team,” Mayo said in March. “The guaranteed way to win is to accumulate more picks. If we don’t feel convicted at number three, we are willing to do that [trade the pick] as well.
On Thursday, Wolf characterized trade discussions with teams looking to acquire the No. 3 draft choice as “ongoing” while acknowledging that the “bag” Mayo referenced hasn’t been offered yet. Like the head coach, New England’s de facto GM could see it going either way.
“We are open to anything. Moving up, moving down: we are open for business in the first round and in every round,” Wolf said about trade discussions. “We have some holes we feel like we need to fill in the draft, and we are a draft and develop team. The more picks we have, the better. But if there’s an opportunity to move up and strike, if the board recommends it, we won’t be afraid to pull the trigger on that either.”
Although nothing has materialized yet on the trade market, the Patriots don’t appear to be married to sticking and picking at three overall. As they rebuild the roster, accumulating more picks seems like a…
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