Officially, Bill Belichick’s title was Patriots head coach.
Unofficially, he served because the soccer czar of Foxboro.
All departments within the Patriots’ soccer operations reported to and flowed by means of Belichick, who had last say over the teaching employees, entrance workplace and roster. Now that the Patriots and Belichick have parted methods, the crew will want a brand new personnel head for the primary time since 2000. Who may that particular person be?
After discussions with league sources, the Herald recognized seven prime candidates for the job.
1. Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf
Wolf, 41, is the son of Hall of Fame government Ron Wolf, who constructed a Super Bowl champion for the Packers and contributed to others with the Raiders. Wolf is thought to be a robust evaluator and impartial thinker. He began his profession with a 14-year stint in Green Bay, the place he was over for the GM job in 2018. That led to 2 seasons because the Browns’ assistant basic supervisor earlier than he landed in New England, the place he’s been the final three years.
Wolf successfully labored because the No. 3 within the Patriots’ entrance workplace below Belichick and director of participant personnel Matt Groh, a Belichick loyalist. He additionally led sure negotiations in free company, and the crew leaned on his expertise and connections throughout the league to conduct different enterprise. Wolf is seen as an “old-school” scout who emphasizes tape research over all different variables in participant analysis.
2. Ex-Raiders GM Dave Ziegler
A longtime Patriots government, Ziegler obtained his first shot at a head job when he left for Las Vegas with Josh McDaniels in Feb. 2022. Ziegler and McDaniels have been fired final November, although Ziegler maintains a robust fame within the league for having a pure eye for expertise and an expansive community.
The upside here’s a candidate with GM expertise, deep New England ties — he rose from assistant director of professional scouting in 2013 to Belichick’s lead personnel man in 2021 — and a contemporary perspective. Ziegler additionally had main whiffs in Las Vegas, together with signing 32-year-old defensive finish Chandler Jones to a hefty free-agent contract, surrendering vital draft capital in a commerce for Davante Adams forward of Adams’ age-30 season and failing to restock an clearly depleted protection.
Ziegler ought to be thought-about one of many prime exterior candidates on this search.
3. 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters
Peters is the most popular title in the marketplace, having reportedly been named a finalist for the Commanders’ GM job. He is named a pointy, well-rounded government whose expertise working as a professional and faculty evaluator for 3 franchises has served him properly.
Peters obtained his NFL begin with the Patriots, first serving as a scouting assistant in 2003, then a professional scout and space faculty scout over six seasons whole. He moved on to Denver in 2009, the place he ultimately contributed to a different Super Bowl crew and have become the Broncos’ director of school scouting. Peters has greater than 20 years of front-office expertise, together with three because the assistant GM in San Francisco.
8 potential Patriots head coach candidates with Bill Belichick out
4. Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi
A local of Everett, Mass., Borgonzi has already accomplished one interview for Washington’s GM opening. He’s spent 15 years in Kansas City, the place during the last three years he is “supervised and directed the club’s college and professional scouting operations while closely supporting and advising general manager Brett Veach,” per the crew’s web site. Borgonzi is well-respected in league circles and helped construct a 2022 draft class that featured 4 rookie starters in final 12 months’s Super Bowl.
A Brown graduate, Borgonzi jumped to the NFL after spending two years because the assistant recruiting director at Boston College (2007-2008) and lots of extra in Boston’s monetary district.
5. Ex-Titans GM Jon Robinson
After the Titans fired him in Dec. 2022, the 47-year-old Robinson spent the spring visiting different groups. He is thought to be a superb faculty evaluator. Robinson’s seven years as a GM, throughout which period Tennessee posted six successful seasons, makes a robust case for him to a minimum of earn an interview.
Robinson began his NFL profession in New England, the place he spent greater than a decade rising from space scout to director of school scouting (2009-2013), earlier than he left for an government place in Tampa Bay and later Tennessee.
6. Browns senior government Bob Quinn
Another ex-GM, Quinn led the Lions’ entrance workplace from 2016-2020 and has since spent the final three years in Cleveland in a consulting function. Quinn joined Belichick’s authentic entrance workplace in 2000 as a participant personnel assistant, then climbed to director of professional scouting in 2012. Working below Belichick after which director of participant personnel Nick Caserio, Quinn helped construct a Super Bowl champion in 2014.
His time with the Browns, who run an analytics-friendly entrance workplace below GM Andrew Berry, figures to have rounded out his scouting eye after years
7. Patriots senior personnel advisor Pat Stewart
Stewart rejoined the group final 12 months after spending two seasons because the Vice President of Player Personnel in Carolina. He has greater than 15 years of front-office expertise and labored as a Patriots scout from 2007-2017. Stewart then spent two seasons with the Eagles. His time outdoors of New England and in management roles figures to be enticing to an possession group that should acknowledge their personnel division wants contemporary concepts.
Source: www.bostonherald.com