Will the New England Patriots Hire a General Manager?

Photo Credit: Winslow Townson, Associated Press

Last week, New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick agreed to part ways, ending a 24-year partnership. The Patriots have already filled the void that Bill Belichick left as Head Coach by hiring Jerod Mayo as his successor, but Belichick was more than just the head coach.

Bill Belichick has also been running the front office during his time in New England, acting as the de facto General Manager. With Belichick gone, many are wondering who the next General Manager of the Patriots will be, but right now it looks like the answer is going to be no one.

Multiple reports out of New England are saying that the Patriots are not rushing to hire a General Manager. It is expected that Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh and Director of Scouting Eliot Wolf will take on General Manager duties until further notice, handling free agency and the NFL Draft.

Groh has been the Director of Player Personnel for two seasons and was in the scouting department for a decade before that. Wolf has only been with the Patriots since 2020. He was formerly the assistant General Manger of the Cleveland Browns from 2018-2019 and had multiple front office jobs with the Green Bay Packers from 2004-2017.

The decision to not hire a General Manager is an interesting move by the Patriots, as they have one of their most important off-seasons looming. They have missed the playoffs in three of the last four seasons in the post Brady era and just had their worst record since Robert Kraft has bought the team.

Additionally, the Patriots are in the perfect scenario to kickstart their rebuild as they have the 3rd overall pick in the draft and are expected to have between $70-$80 million in cap space to work with this offseason. This would be a dream scenario for a new General Manager to make a splash in free agency and land a top prospect.  

For now, it looks like Wolf and Elliot are going to be leading the rebuild, although nothing is official. It is still possible that one or both of them could follow Belichick once he makes a decision on where he is going to coach next year. If that was the case, then it would be all but certain that the Patriots would seek an outside candidate to be their General Manager.