The first step of the 2026 NFL Draft begins Thursday with the start of the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. The New England Patriots have already met with dozens of prospects, and executive vice president Eliot Wolf has made his rounds on media row.
Less than three weeks removed from the heartbreaking Super Bowl loss, Wolf told draft analyst Todd McShay that New England’s front office is working on putting together a big board of around 200 prospects ahead of April’s draft.
“Probably around 200,” Wolf said on The McShay Show. “Now there’s some guys that are upside down, or we wouldn’t consider for various reasons. Maybe a guy that’s upside down in the second round that we would consider in the 7th round.”
Wolf then added insight into how the team builds around what they believe other teams in the league might do.
“We try to make it as realistic as possible,” Wolf said. “When the bullets are flying, and all of a sudden you think, ‘It’s a good defensive tackle class, we know we are going to be able to get one,’ and then there’s only one left. You have to make a decision: are you going to try to trade up for him or hope he comes to you?
“So we try to be realistic with where we put guys. Last year, it fell pretty well for us as far as where we had guys, and we had a successful draft. We don’t know if that will happen this year.”