The New England Patriots have filled one void left by longtime head coach Bill Belichick. But they’re seemingly content to leave another one empty.
The Patriots replaced Belichick with his protege Jerod Mayo last month to serve as the team’s new head coach for the 2024 season and beyond. Mayo, however, isn’t expected to wear two hats like his predecessor famously did.
The Patriots have had Belichick serve as both the coach, general manager, and overall head honcho for decades up until his 2024 exit. The GM appears to remain unfilled for the rest of the coming season with the team opting for a GM-by-committee approach.
The New England Patriots May Very Well Stay GM-Less For The Foreseeable Future
The Patriots have apparently “made no moves to interview any external candidate” to fill the role of “primary football executive,” according to a report from Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports. Organizational structures may differ from team to team, but each franchise has to designate a primary football executive to distinguish who is at the very top of their respective org chart.
The report added that league rules would allow the Patriots to remain without a specific top executive for the rest of the year. Jones also noted that Patriots owner Robert Kraft has recently expressed his belief in his internal people, many of whom were able to learn directly from Belichick.
“We have a lot of people internally who have had a chance to train and learn under the greatest coach of all time and a man whose football intellect is very special,” Kraft said last month, via Jones’ report. “So, in the short-term, we’re looking for collaboration. Our team has a tremendous opportunity to position itself right, given our salary cap space, and we’ve never drafted, in my 30 years of ownership, we’ve never been drafting as [high] as we’re drafting.
“So we’re counting on our internal people, whom we’re still learning and evaluating. So we’re going to let that evolve and develop, and before the key decisions have to be made, we will appoint someone.”
Eliot Wolf Has Reportedly ‘Captained’ The New England Patriots For Now
Patriots’ director of scouting Eliot Wolf is reportedly running the show. The team has also recently hired veteran NFL executive Alonzo Highsmith, who previously worked with Wolf on the Green Bay Packers. But neither appear to be rumored for the top job anytime soon.
With Belichick out of the picture, the power structure in New England remains murky as the 2023 season comes to a close. Change appears to be the unifying factor throughout the Patriots’ organization this coming year.
If anything, next season will be quite the interesting experiment for the Patriots and their fans.