When Eliot Wolf was promoted to executive vice president of player personnel in 2024, he essentially had one goal: work on getting the New England Patriots back on track. While he got the new title in May of that year, he was essentially the primary decision maker in the Patriots front office post-Bill Belichick.
Since calling the shots, he's found some great players in the last two drafts. Drake Maye , Will Campbell , TreVeyon Henderson and Craig Woodson all found playing time as rookies and project to be blue chip players for New England moving forward. But not all of the Patriots' picks have worked out. Some players, mainly from the 2024 draft, didn't pan out like Wolf and New England had hoped.
Four players from 2024 -- minus Maye, one of the worst classes in franchise history -- make the list of some of the biggest busts of the Wolf era.
Dec 15, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk (1) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
What makes the Polk pick that much more painful for Patriots fans is who they could have had instead. The Patriots were on the clock when they decided to trade the 34th and 137th overall picks to the Los Angeles Chargers for the 37th and 110th picks. The Chargers took Ladd McConkey , and the Patriots selected the Washington wideout.
OK. Maybe Polk will work out in New England. After all, he was a key member of that Huskies team that made it all the way to the national title game, right? Nope. Polk struggled to find his footing with the Patriots, grabbing just 12 catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie.
Off the field, he boasted about his hands and how his play would shut up the haters. It did just that, as Polk quickly became a punching bag for New England fans on social media over his play. He played in 15 games, but was seemingly phased out of an offense that really had no business doing anything on the field at all. One summer later, he was shipped to the New Orleans Saints for a 2027 sixth rounder.
Dec 15, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; New England Patriots guard Layden Robinson (64) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Patriots planned to bolster their offensive line with two picks this year. First, they added Penn State tackle Caedan Wallace (who remains just one of three players from this rookie class that remains on the team). The next pick was Robinson out of Texas A&M. He played in 13 games as a rookie, starting 11 of those as both a right and left guard.
But Robinson's play, along with the entire offensive line's, was not good enough at all. When Mike Vrabel and the Patriots' new regime came in for the 2025 season, Robinson was on the outside looking in for a roster spot. In August, he was wived with an injured designation. Not an ideal outcome for a player drafted early on day three.
New England Patriots wide receiver Javon Baker (6) runs with the punt return in the first quarter, Thursday, August 21, 2025, in East Rutherford. | Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The other pick acquired from the Chargers trade. Baker, like Polk, was equally loud off the field with his comments and equally terrible on the field. For the UCF alum, he caught just one catch in 11 games. That singular catch was for 12 yards, and although he totaled 79 yards on kick return, didn't do anything to justify a roster spot.
In his initial press conference after being drafted, Baker claimed that his play would "make people in wheelchairs stand up." Those comments didn't go over well, and his play was quite the opposite of exciting. After fighting for a roster spot in a crowded wideout room in 2025, he was released and has found brief landing spot with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers .
Jan 5, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Joe Milton III (19) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in the first quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images
Milton was a fun experiment as New England's third quarterback in 2024. After the the team selected Maye third overall, they double dipped and added the Tennessee gunslinger on day three. Milton didn't get much of a shot, remaining as the emergency third quarterback for the entire season -- even after a quarterback switch between Maye and veteran Jacoby Brissett .
When Milton did get playing time -- in Week 18 against the Buffalo Bills -- he played well enough for the Patriots to knock themselves out of the first pick in 2025. You can't fault the young quarterback for putting good football on tape, and you certainly get upset at players wanting to win. But for the Patriots, who could have netted a large trade package for the first overall pick, drafting a backup quarterback they'd later trade away seems like a waste of a roster spot in hindsight.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/patriots/onsi as Biggest Draft Busts of the Eliot Wolf Era - Where The Patriots Went Wrong .
