Patriots Rumors: No Guarantee Eliot Wolf Stays De Facto GM After NFL Draft

There's no question Eliot Wolf currently is serving as the de facto general manager of the New England Patriots, even if he doesn't officially have that title.

But Wolf's power in that position might not last throughout the entire offseason.

The Boston Herald's Andrew Callahan reported that Wolf's capacity in that role could have an expiration date that is a lot sooner than probably anyone would have expected.

"The Krafts have not guaranteed Wolf, their new de facto GM, his new power past the draft, according to sources," Callahan wrote. "Wolf, in fact, is like most of the Patriots' front-office members: near the end of his contract. The Patriots' front office is replete with lame-duck executives and scouts, a rarity in the NFL, where most teams prevent their chief evaluators from ever reaching the end of their deals."

Callahan noted that Wolf's contract status isn't necessarily out of the norm for the Patriots. But it is puzzling, even to those Callahan has spoken to around the league, why the Patriots made Wolf, who has final say over personnel decisions, the key architect in this all-important offseason if he might not in this position long term.

"The Patriots' willingness to let these contracts play out to the very end is a long-standing team practice and not necessarily a negative," Callahan wrote. "It is also unclear whether this is a Belichickian custom the Krafts have maintained since his departure, or an ownership mandate. But, in the words of certain league sources who have pondered the Patriots' offseason, inarguably the franchise's most critical in decades, 'What the (expletive) are they doing?'"

Wolf's status doesn't seem to be troubling him, but it is creating doubt among the other executives and scouts in the Patriots' front office.

"One source close to Wolf senses he has complete confidence he will keep his job," Callahan wrote. "That confidence is unique to him in a front office filled with evaluators who simultaneously are enjoying Wolf's laidback culture and confronting varying degrees of uncertainty because of their boss's lame-duck status."