With his pair of Day 2 picks, Eliot Wolf starts to rebuild neglected Patriots offense with solid doubles

In the first round, Eliot Wolf got the quarterback of the future in Drake Maye.

Certainly, there is a lot of risk involved, investing heavily in a young, inexperienced but physically talented player with a lot of country in him.

In many ways, it was similar to the move Wolf's father, Ron, made after taking over the Packers' front office in 1992 when he traded a first-round pick to the Falcons for Brett Favre, who just a year earlier had been drafted in the second round by Atlanta. Favre had thrown a grand total of four NFL passes at that point — and two went to the other team. Yet Wolf gave up an earlier selection for the big-armed and wild gunslinger from the deeper South. He knew he had to roll the dice on talent, and he had a conviction on Favre.

Obviously, the Wolf family hopes lightning will strike twice — or come near the same vicinity. 

What would Eliot Wolf do for an encore in the second and third rounds?

He stuck to the Packers' playbook, but he's doing it for a different reason: due to Bill Belichick's neglect of the Patriots' offensive personnel in recent years (to say nothing of failing to support a first-round quarterback), Wolf couldn't afford to take big risks on Day 2.

Two of the biggest needs for the Patriots last year (and several more before that), in what turned out to be Belichick's final overseeing New England's selections, were offensive tackle and wide receiver. What did Belichick do? He used his first three selections on defense, and his next three were spent on a center, a kicker and two guards. Belichick finally got to receiver in the sixth round. Tackle? The last one he took in the first three rounds was Yodny Cajuste in 2019 (3rd round) despite a seemingly endless revolving door since Sebastian Vollmer retired in 2016, and necessitating the annual Trent Brown sweepstakes.

Plenty of tackles with left tackle upside were available in last year's draft, including Dawand Jones in the fourth round. Did Belichick pick one, despite Brown being his only hope? Nope. Had to have center/guard Jake Andrews in the fourth round.

Every draft seems to have 75 receivers ready to pick and play, with scores taken the first two days last year (4 in first round, 4 in the second, 6 in the third). Did Belichick bother with selecting one? Of course not. His defense needed more attention.

That was just part of the mess Wolf inherited when he took over the draft board this year. (Given how Belichick also punted on tight end last year despite a bumper crop, we should expect Wolf to clean up that mess — the Patriots knew they had zero tight ends signed for 2024 at the time — by taking one or two on Day 3 today. If you want another Packers connection - I know you guys love those - Wolf should go full green and gold and nab Texas' Ja'Tavion Sanders, just like Ted Thompson did with Texas clone Jermichael Finley in 2008).

Belichick left Wolf no wiggle room. Wolf had to address receiver and tackle early in this draft, and he couldn't afford to continue to take Jack Clark-type hacks after doing so with the Maye pick.

Wolf had to get players that would, at the very minimum, be good, solid players. That meant out with the high upside. Hello, high floor. After Belichick punted in 2023, Wolf had to at least start the process of restocking those positions.

Enter receiver Ja'Lynn Polk and tackle Caedan Wallace.

The Patriots could have traded up for Xavier Worthy (28th to KC in a trade up), Ricky Pearsall (31, SF), Xavier Legette (32, CAR in a trade up) or Keon Coleman (33, BUF after a trade down). After trading down five spots from 34 — where the Chargers took WR Ladd McConkey for Justin Herbert, mind you — the Patriots could have drafted Adonai Mitchell from Texas, who has all the tools and speed to be a stud. But he also comes with character issues. Malachi Corley went at the top of the third round to the Jets.

Most likely, any of those names would have elicited a very positive response from draftniks and fans alike. You're talking about guys with traits. Big upside.

Sorry, but these Patriots can't afford to bet on traits, not right now.

The Patriots, in the eyes of Wolf, needed a good, solid football player to start the process of restocking the receiver room.

"He’s a really good fit in our offense," Wolf said. "He's really tough, he's strong, he can run all the routes, play inside-outside. He's a good blocker. He’s really competitive, both for the ball in the air and as a run-after-catch player. He’s really just kind of a versatile, do-everything type guy. He ran a little bit faster than a lot of people expected, but when you turn the tape on, you see him running by people. So, definitely excited to add him to the mix."

In many ways, the Polk pick reminded me of my first Packers draft, in 2008. Thompson traded out of the first round and down six spots with the Jets and saw two receivers taken before he selected the unheralded Jordy Nelson out of Kansas State, who was taller than Polk at 6-3 but similar speed.

Fans mostly trashed the pick. Not enough upside. In Bob McGinn's scout quotes at the time .. see if any of these sound familiar:

"He's strong and has good hands but he's got some stiffness to him. That's what I didn't like about him. He's not explosive. He's a good player but there's nothing special about him. He's not real quick or explosive."

"This guy will play for a long time. He's a good player. I don't know how fast he is. I really like him. I would think second round."

"He's a tough guy. Not a burner. Possession-type guy. He'll make it with somebody. Pretty good."

"Jordy Nelson has the fewest flaws of anybody. He may not be the most elite talent but he's got the least amount of warts."

When I started covering the Packers in 2007, they had just drafted James Jones out of San Jose State in the third round. Same size, speed and toughness as Polk. That pick was trashed worse than Nelson.

"Widely panned as a third-round pick (14th WR taken), he proved his worth immediately and held the No. 3 job all season … Lacks the speed to be a great player but should be solid if he can clean up his drops (eight in 88 drops) and stay grounded," McGinn wrote at the time.

These are some of the comments McGinn has on Polk:

“Smart, tough, great body control,” one scout said. “Really, really good hands. Good speed, not elite. But he knows how to play the game.” 

“I like him as a fourth-fifth receiver and special-teams player with low-end starter’s upside maybe in a couple years,” a third scout said. “If he’s on your team he’s active on game day. He can play inside and outside. Outstanding contested catch catcher. He’s a dog and will be good on special teams.”

This is what the Packers do, they look for, in receivers, just good football players who are tough, catch the ball and block. And they don't care much about your X, Y and Z positions — they almost all look the same.

"The system that I come from, we never really talked much about X, Z, slot," Wolf said Friday night. "We just really tried to add really good receivers, and it would end up working out for us. So, we feel like he's a guy that can play all the positions."