The New England Patriots appear to be in no rush to fill the vacant general manager position in the wake of the departure of former head coach Bill Belichick, CBS Sports reported on Saturday.
Per the report, the Patriots have made no effort to interview external candidates for the vacant position.
The Patriots haven’t had a general manager since Belichick was hired in January 2000. According to league rules, the GM position can be left vacant all season.
Recent reported front office hires and comments by team owner Robert Kraft suggest the Patriots are more concerned about the short-term when it comes to executive positions.
Earlier this week, Eliot Wolf was promoted from scouting director to the No. 1 executive in charge of personnel, NFL Network reported Wednesday.
Wolf, 41, whose title is unclear, will have control of the 53-man roster while working closely with new head coach Jerod Mayo, according to reports. Wolf joined the Patriots in 2020 as a consultant before later being elevated to director of scouting in 2022.
Also this week, Alonzo Highsmith left the Miami Hurricanes to join the New England Patriots as a senior personnel executive.
Highsmith, who turns 59 later this month, has been the general manager of football operations for the Hurricanes the past two seasons. His addition reunites him with Wolf, with whom he worked at Green Bay and Cleveland earlier in their careers.
In other moves, director of player personnel Matt Groh is expected to run college scouting and Pat Stewart will have a leading role, per NFL Network.
In January, while introducing Mayo, Kraft indicated that Belichick’s influence over the past two-plus decades translates to a lot of existing in-house experience for the Patriots’ front office.
“We have a lot of people internally who have had a chance to train and learn under the greatest coach of all time and a man whose football intellect is very special,” Kraft said last month, when asked who will be handing out contracts and making draft picks.
“So, in the short-term, we’re looking for collaboration… We’re counting on our internal people, whom we’re still learning and evaluating. So, we’re going to let that evolve and develop, and before the key decisions have to be made, we will appoint someone.”
However, Kraft did not specifically say what position someone would be appointed to, and Wolf has yet to be officially introduced.
–Field Level Media
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