Patriots war room had first ‘productive disagreement’ in Round 2

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Patriots war room had first ‘productive disagreement’ in Round 2

Chris Mason · MassLive

Sat, Apr 26, 2025 ·

2 min read

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FOXBOROUGH — Early in the second round, a front office with some new faces had its first disagreement.

There are a handful of evaluators with significant voices in the Patriots war room, and it's a new mix this spring.

Eliot Wolf (executive VP of player personnel), Matt Groh (director of player personnel), Camren Williams (director of college scouting) and Alonzo Highsmith (senior personnel executive) have returned, while Mike Vrabel (head coach), John Streicher (VP of football operations and strategy) and Ryan Cowden (VP of player personnel) are new additions in 2025.

In the first round, the Patriots drafted Will Campbell at No. 4 overall, and apparently everyone was on board. Ahead of pick No. 38, there was some debate.

"It was a really good step in the right direction just for us working together in our relationship as co-workers because we have to have productive disagreements for this to work," Wolf said. "We can't just agree on everything. We can't just acquiesce to each other on something, so I think it was really productive from that standpoint."

Wolf said the debate centered around Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson , who the Patriots ended up drafting, and another prospect available at the top of the round.

"Ultimately, one of the players we were talking about got drafted, so it didn't end up mattering," Wolf said.

While Wolf wouldn't share who the other player was, only five were drafted ahead of Henderson in the second round, so it had to be either UCLA LB Carson Schwesinger , Iowa State WR Jayden Higgins , South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori, Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins , or Arizona OG Jonah Savaiinaea .

The Patriots eventually selected Henderson at No. 38 despite offers to trade out. Running back wasn't seen as one of New England's most glaring needs in this draft, but Wolf said it was a case of simply taking the best player on the board.

"Exactly," Wolf said. "It's a deep draft for running backs. There's still some guys up there that we feel could help us, but just his ability to be a threat and make huge plays was something that stood out with him versus the rest of the class."

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