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Prototypical Patriots: Seven offensive tackles who fit Wolf’s mold originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
For a long time, putting together our Prototypical Patriots series was relatively self-explanatory. We had about two decades worth of drafts run by Bill Belichick to analyze what he preferred at certain positions.
What were the physical or production-related thresholds he seemed to value at quarterback? Receiver? Tackle? Pass-rusher? Corner?
The more picks Belichick made, the more information we had, and — theoretically — the more we could zero-in on the players Belichick would want on draft weekend.
Now? The entire process is a little tougher.
Branches of the Wolf tree
De facto Patriots general manager and director of scouting Eliot Wolf has no track record as a franchise’s primary front-office decision-maker. It’s not entirely clear what he’ll prefer on a position-by-position basis.
All we can do, then, is work off clues from personnel chiefs alongside whom Wolf has studied in the past. That includes his father, Ron Wolf, who built the Packers in the early 1990s and beyond.
The elder Wolf tutored the likes of Ted Thompson, John Dorsey, John Schneider, Reggie McKenzie, Scot McCloughan and Brian Gutekunst. Aside from McCloughan, who left the Packers in 1999, the younger Wolf worked with all of those future general managers in Green Bay. He worked directly under Dorsey in Cleveland as assistant GM.
All of those names ended up as general managers of their own teams, with Eliot Wolf working as assistant general manager directly under Dorsey in Cleveland.
As we go through this year’s Prototypical Patriots series, we’ll use evidence from all the branches of the Ron Wolf executive tree, pointing out what they valued in their early-round selections.
The prototypical Wolf tree tackle
At tackle, there are 16 players who were drafted by a member of the tree in the first and second rounds. We have official pre-draft measurements — thanks to the extensive library from Kent…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/prototypical-patriots-seven-offensive-tackles-200833222.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-03-25 20:53:06
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