Images courtesy of LSU Athletics and Mike Christy/Arizona Athletics By Andy Backstrom NEFJ Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – Drake Maye needs help. Up front and on the outside. The second-year Patriots quarterback could get a hand in one of those areas when New England makes its first selection in April’s NFL Draft. As New England Football Journal pointed out earlier this week, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and the…

Image courtesy of Penn State Athletics  Trade down. Trade the pick for a proven player. Stick and pick a lineman on either side of the ball. Take Travis Hunter if he happens to fall. Everyone has an opinion on what the Patriots should do with the fourth overall pick when the draft opens up in Green Bay late in April. Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf (and Ryan Cowden to an…

Image courtesy of Tony Harman/Colorado Athletics By Andy Backstrom NEFJ Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – The New England Patriots have too many holes for one draft selection to patch. They need to surround second-year quarterback Drake Maye with more weapons. They also need to bolster a defense that ranked 11th-to-last in the NFL with 24.5 points per game allowed last season. That’s where executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and…

By Andy Backstrom NEFJ Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – The New England Patriots were 4-13 last season. More plainly, they just weren’t good enough. And as Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf admitted Wednesday at the NFL Combine, the organization “just didn’t get enough done.” He took the blame for a roster that was among the NFL’s worst in 2024. “Certainly the free agency class didn’t live up to…

In the movie ‘Remember the Titans’ there’s a scene early where Julius Campbell is speaking to Gerry Bertier, it’s a critical, tone-setting moment for the rest of the film. “Attitude reflects leadership, captain,” Campbell told him. If you’ve seen it, you know the rest is history with the help of a few more bonding moments. Right now, Patriots players have loudly said the same thing to Robert and Jonathan Kraft….

For the first time since being hired, Mike Vrabel spoke with the assembled media down in Indianapolis on Tuesday morning. During the 15-minute Q&A, Vrabel hit on all the important issues currently facing him and the organization as they look to just get back to respectability before even thinking about contention. Vrabel’s staff is complete and it’ll be an integral part of the franchise’s success going forward. He was asked…