For the better part of the past quarter-century, Bill Belichick has acted as the New England Patriots head coach and quasi general manager.
It had been somewhat of a point of contention internally, especially with New England struggling from a draft perspective in recent years.
Now that Belichick and the Patriots have agreed to a divorce, most believe things will change as it relates to their front office structure. With the inexperienced Jerod Mayo taking over as head coach, that’s magnified further.
This might not be the case after all.
According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, there is no guarantee that the Patriots will hire a new general manager. Instead, current front office executives Matt Groh and Eliot Wolf would oversee the personnel department in their current roles.
Related: New England Patriots defied spirit of NFL’s Rooney Rule with Jerod Mayo hiring
Groh is currently the Patriots director of player personnel and would likely be the quasi general manager. He’s been with the Patriots for 13 seasons. He served six seasons as a national scout and six more as an area scout for the organization.
As for Wolf, he has two decades of personnel experience at the NFL level. His career started with the Green Bay Packers back in 2004. Most recently, Wolf has been the New England Patriots’ director of scouting.
It is odd for an organization that doesn’t boast a hands-on owner or coach with personnel control to go without a general manager. As noted above, the elevation of the 37-year-old Mayo from assistant to head coach adds another layer to this.
We’re intrigued to see how all of this plays out after Belichick had full control of these matters for the past quarter century in Foxborough.