INDIANAPOLIS — Six years ago, the Packers picked Brian Gutekunst over Eliot Wolf.
Gutekunst became Green Bay’s new general manager, after spending more than decade in the team’s front office; same as Wolf. Gutekunst offered Wolf a chance to stay as his top advisor, but Wolf declined and left for Cleveland in 2018. Now, the two are peers again.
Wolf and Gutekunst held simultaneous press conferences at the NFL Scouting Combine this week, as the personnel heads for the Patriots and Packers, respectively. Over the coming days and weeks, both executives will be charged with scouting the same prospects in the upcoming draft. But on Tuesday, Gutekunst took a minute to scout his old friend.
“(Wolf)’s a great evaluator of talent, very thoughtful, and I think he’s had such a wide variety of valuable experiences, particularly being with the Packers for as long as he was in in our process,” Gutekunst told the Herald. “Then going to Cleveland, I think was really important. And obviously his time in New England … they’re in really good hands. You couldn’t ask for a better person who is as exceptionally talented as he is.”
During his press conference Wolf explained the new roster-building philosophy he’s begun to implement in New England. It’s rooted in the lessons he learned in Green Bay, first under his father, Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf in the ’90s, and then later as a Packers front-office member from 2004-17. Gutekunst expounded on Green Bay’s approach Tuesday.
“It’s about the work. There’s no shortcuts. It’s about putting in the time, boots on the ground to
get to know these players and get to know the people who know these players. And then trusting the process and believing (in it),” he said. “And I think, we’ve all been kind of trained in the same way, and had a lot of faith and — not that we’re always trying to tweak and get better — but a lot of the foundational principles of what we are taught (are the same).”
Among those principles are drafting and developing homegrown players, something Wolf gave voice to Tuesday. Wolf also intends to extend the Patriots’ “core players.” Behind the scenes, the front office has already shifted their grading methodology to a Packers-style system.
However the Patriots’ upcoming draft and free agency classes take shape, Gutekunst expects Wolf to thrive in his new role, and the team to thrive with him.
“I think he’s gonna do fantastic things, just because of how tremendous he is at what he does,” he said. “And I just couldn’t be more happy for him and his family.”