Patriots not appointing a "general manager" is total nonsense

The New England Patriots broomed long-time de facto general manager Bill Belichick earlier this year, although he never officially held the title of "General Manager" for whatever reason.

Now, they have another de facto GM, Eliot Wolf, on hand. Obviously, if Wolf gets the job "permanently" (a lock), he won't hold that title either. All this is much ado about little.

Pats Pulpit expounded on this in a recent article. Here's what they had this to say about the topic,

"'... according to a report by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Patriots are looking for an 'executive vice president of player personnel.' The position was registered with the league office recently, making the search official and necessitating following league requirements such as the Rooney Rule."

The team's decision after firing Belichick to proceed with their most critical offseason in 30 years without a permanent GM in place was illogical. It was especially odd because the "new team" was Belichick's old personnel team.

Having fired Belichick mainly due to his personnel mismanagement, keeping his team in place had to be considered questionable at best and specious at worst.

Patriots fuss about executives' titles rather than concrete concerns

No matter, Eliot Wolf was placed in control. Wolf conducted the offseason's most important activities, free agency (free agents in and out) and the draft. The offseason's overall grade here was a C+. Wolf's free agency was blah. His draft was great with its first pick, Drake Maye, and somewhat mediocre thereafter.

Now, following all this, the team is ostensibly reopening a "search" for their personnel boss but won't call the person who will be the general manager the "general manager." First, all this is just senseless, meaningless corporate speech, nothing more or less. Forget this nonsense and get down to business.

Second, the team seemingly feels they have to be different in creating a more appropriate title. The fact of the matter is that titles are irrelevant. What matters is getting the right person in place to do the job. The more important aspect is that Wolf has not distinguished himself to date in that regard as much as he should have.

Patriots' process of appointing a "general manager" was flawed

Eliot Wolf seems to have been the choice all along to handle personnel, whatever the title. If so, then why didn't the team's owners just give him the title and roll with it? Appointing any interim GM who had the responsibility to oversee the most important offseason in decades made no sense whatsoever.

Now, the team is scrambling to comply with the NFL's Rooney Rule for interviewing. Not surprisingly, they are having a hard time even getting candidates to interview.

Wonder why? It's obvious. Wolf has the job, and who wants to be used as a pawn in what may be a bogus process? Good on those executives!

All this points to a few conclusions. The New England Patriots now appear to be a bumbling franchise, indecisive at best and disingenuous at worst. If Wolf had the job before the offseason, all aspects, including requisite interviews, should have been conducted then, and he should subsequently have been appointed.

Instead, we have a "process" that looks farcical and makes the team look ridiculous. Trying to comprehend why supposedly astute business executives stumble all over the place in sports management is a mystery. Yet, it happens often.

Hopefully, this Patriots' version ends shortly, and the team gets down to football. That's all that matters anyway.

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