Image courtesy of East-West Shrine Bowl

As the Patriots coaching staff got knee deep in on-field work with players on the West roster at the East-West Shrine Bowl practice in Last Vegas on Saturday, Director of Player Personnel Matt Groth spoke with the media following Day 2.

Groh, along with the coaches, have a chance to not only work with players one-on-one throughout the week, but also get to scout who they are as people off the field as well. In desperate need of some immediate impact guys to add to this roster in some key areas, this week is extremely important in the pre-draft prep.

“We’re very, very appreciate of the opportunity to come out here and work with these guys,” Groh said. Some players – like local superstar receiver Zay Flowers from BC – aren’t participating in the game or on field work this week as they get ready for the NFL Combine and Pro Day circuits. Still, Groh will need to meet with as many guys as he can before the game on February 2nd and learn about what type of character they have on and off the field.

“A lot of those personnel decisions, who’s playing, who’s not playing, the Shrine Bowl handles…we just coach the guys. Eric (Galko) has done a great job of scouting guys and getting them out here. I think it gets lost how much time goes in to all these All Star games, trying to find players. You’ve got players from all over the country, and their staffs aren’t as large as say, our staff. They’re all here for a reason, they’ve all earned that this week.”

Groh and the Patriots are always at all of the college All Star games, but obviously with the entire staff on hand and fully immersed in everything that goes on this week, New England is hoping to get more than usual out of this endeavor.

“It’s great” Groh said. “We’re here every year regardless. Having our staff be available, get to learn these kids, really drill down, really spend so much more time with them in meeting settings, really how much can they handle? Obviously, the physical part of football is a massive part, but the mental is massive as well, so all the time we get to spend with them…and then there’s the personal part. We get to really see them more in a natural setting, more relaxed with their teammates. Being a good teammate’s really important to me, it’s really important to the organization. See the guys who are goo teammates. See the guys who, ‘alright, these guys have all just come together, who’s risen as the leader of the group?’ Sometimes that happens pretty quickly, hey that guy has really good leadership qualities…just being able to observe all that is tremendously beneficial.”

The wild Wild West that is the NCAA transfer portal ultimately has an effect on NFL player development as well.

“Yeah, you can probably look at it as good and bad,” he said. “A guy who…would Brad Johnson have stayed all those years? Probably would have been starting somewhere else. Our organization did its homework and was fortunate to get Matt Cassel. Matt Cassel probably doesn’t sit at Southern Cal for all those years. So, it gives guys a little bit more of an opportunity to go out there and compete. It’s hard for for all those college coaches, we try to keep up with it as best we can. You look out there and there’s a countless number of players where, from this school, he’s at that school. He was at this school, that school and that school. We keep up with all that. Really, it’s just another group of coaches and support staff from different school that we get their opinions and their input on that prospect.

“You can be at one school and have four different offensive coordinators though. That’s the way it is here these days. These kids have got to learn to adapt. Obviously, the high school systems are more advanced than they were a decade ago. It’s a constant change in football. The ones who can adapt and learn and get up to speed with things…just like this week. The quicker you can get up to speed with what the playbook is for the Falcons and us, those are the guys here in the early practices that are going to give themselves the best chance to stand out.”

Groh also spoke about new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien.

“My first year coming in, I was able to spend some time with Billy O, so we go back a little bit a ways. With him being in college and me visiting Alabama, I’ve been able to kind of rekindle a little bit of that,” Groh added. “It’s great to have him on board and all our coaches are out there just trying to get these guys ready for the game Thursday night and we look forward to seeing what they can do.”