![\"Eliot](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgt6611gpcfyrd81vq.jpg\" "\\"Eliot")
<\/p>\nGREEN BAY, Wis. \u2013 On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will play in Super Bowl LX. The championship rosters were built by a couple kids from Green Bay.<\/p>\n
Eliot Wolf, who joined the Patriots in 2020 and was promoted to executive vice president of player personnel in 2024, is the son of legendary former Packers general manager Ron Wolf. John Schneider has been general manager of the Seahawks since 2010.<\/p>\n
Both men grew up in Green Bay and got their starts in the NFL with the Packers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lived in Green Bay for over 20 years, fourth grade through high school, and then right back right after college for 14 more seasons,\u201d Wolf told Packers On SI last week when he was at the Senior Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have tons of close friends there. You know, probably my closest friends in the world are there. Just coming up with the Packers, first-class organization that does everything right; that\u2019s still the case. I just feel really blessed to have been part of that, not only the team but the community, for such a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eliot Wolf watches Packers training camp in 2016. | Mark Hoffman-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Schneider got his start with Ron Wolf from 1993 through 1996, then came back to Green Bay from 2002 through 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means everything,\u201d Schneider told Packers On SI from the Super Bowl, \u201cbecause I was born and raised in De Pere. I grew up a monster Packers fan and was super-blessed to get hired as an intern when unrestricted free agency was just starting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have doctorates in sports administration and shit like they have now. So, that was kind of like my masterclass. For Ron to allow me to get in there with Ted Thompson and John Dorsey and Coach Holmgren and that whole staff \u2013 Dick Jauron, Andy Reid, Ray Rhodes, Sherm Lewis, Gil Haskell, (Jon) Gruden, that whole crew \u2013 that was like a master\u2019s program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Schneider and Wolf shared similar thoughts as the final moments ticked away during their conference championship games.<\/p>\n
After back-to-back 4-13 seasons, the team Wolf helped build was finishing off the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems surreal in some way,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cJust thinking where we were last year at this time vs. where we are this year at this time, and myself being incredibly proud of the players and the coaches and the scouts and everybody that made this thing happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when we won the Super Bowl in 2010 in Green Bay. I ended up feeling like I was happier for other people than I was for myself, which was pretty cool, because my goal my whole life was to win the Super Bowl. It had just occurred, and I just kind of found myself being so excited for Ted and Mike (McCarthy) and John Dorsey and all the people that kind of made it happen. And I had similar feelings this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n
About three-and-a-half hours later, Schneider\u2019s Seahawks were running out the clock in their thrilling victory over the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just thinking about all the people and all the hard work that went into all the coaches and the staff and, obviously, the players,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot. I mean, it\u2019s hard to win one game in the National Football League.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Schneider Gets Seahawks Back to Super Bowl<\/p>\n
Schneider would know. Similar to the current Packers, the Seahawks were consistent winners who couldn\u2019t get over the hump. They won the Super Bowl in 2013 and rallied past the Packers in the infamous 2014 NFC Championship Game to get back to the Super Bowl. In the 10 seasons from 2015 through 2024, Seattle had nine winning stories but never reached another conference title game, let alone the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
Finally, his team is back.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting back to the Green Bay thing, I\u2019d be working or playing in the yard and I couldn\u2019t wait for the paper to come to see what the Packers were doing every single day to improve,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ve really translated that to our process of, what are we doing every single day for the fans to give them a consistent, championship-caliber product?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an entertainment business and, as a kid, I wanted to know, and that\u2019s what I\u2019d want to know as a fan, and so now that\u2019s kind of the way we approach it. We want our fans thinking we have a chance to be in this thing every year and that\u2019s just what drives our whole organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schneider is one of the best in the business, but even he had moments of doubt that he\u2019d ever get back to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be working or playing in the yard and I couldn\u2019t wait for the paper to come to see what the Packers were doing every single day to improve. So, we\u2019ve really translated that to our process of, what are we doing every single day for the fans to give them a consistent, championship-caliber product?\u201d<\/p>\n
Seahawks GM John Schneider<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That runs through your head, absolutely. Yeah, for sure, that runs through your head,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s certain things you doubt when you\u2019re evaluating. Like I said, it\u2019s hard to win one game in the National Football League, so to be able to do it in a manner where we haven\u2019t had to totally tear it down and you\u2019re not picking in the top three or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
So much has to go right to get to the Super Bowl, which the Packers know all too well. It\u2019s up to the general manager to pick the right players, the coaches to put the players in the right position and the players to make things happen. But seasons also come down to injuries and bounces of the ball, things nobody can control.<\/p>\n
As Schneider said, \u201cThe coaches are coaching, the players are playing, so I don\u2019t really have much control over it. It\u2019s kind of like putting it in God\u2019s hands and rolling with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Schneider has been content to let Jesus take the wheel. From 2010 through the start of the 2015 season, he had made more than 3,900 roster moves<\/a>. That\u2019s well over 4,000 now. It\u2019s a \u201crelentless\u201d approach<\/a> to roster building, as coach Mike Macdonald put it, with Schneider working nonstop to get just a little bit better.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just part of constant improvement and looking around the corner and trying to figure out how you can improve your roster,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s 90 guys, it\u2019s not just 53. It\u2019s practice squads, trades, waiver claims, whatever you can do.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s relying on a really, really talented scouting department and guys that are really pushing, working their tails off to basically, like, hey, find a guy that could be a diamond in the rough or just the next slight improvement at a position, or working their relationships with specific agents or getting our foot in the door at schools. It\u2019s any way we can improve our roster.\u201d<\/p>\n Eliot Wolf Leads Quick Patriots Turnaround<\/p>\n While Seattle had been consistent winners, New England had fallen on hard times. Without Tom Brady, the Patriots posted a losing record in four of their previous five seasons. In 2024, Wolf drafted quarterback Drake Maye. In 2025, he went on a shopping spree to surround his new coach, Mike Vrabel, with plenty of talent.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to give a ton of credit to Coach Vrabel,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cObviously, the players are the ones on the field doing it but, really, Coach Vrabel coming in here and taking control and instilling the culture, and guys that want to protect the identity and be a part of this thing and really galvanizing the team. And we had a strong free agency period this year where we added a lot of players that are good players on the field, but they\u2019re also leaders and great people and were able to unite some of the guys that had been here.\u201d<\/p>\n That was a worthwhile point with free agency and the draft on the horizon. This isn\u2019t fantasy football or Madden. Great teams are just that \u2013 teams \u2013 not a collection of individuals. That was front and center as the Patriots spent almost $100 million more than any other team in free agency.<\/p>\n New England Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf discusses free agency in March. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re not just trying to acquire talent, we\u2019re trying to build a team,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cWhen you have core values that you stick to with the people that you bring in, I think that just makes it easier for everyone to trust the guy next to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the ultimate team sport. When you\u2019re able to trust the guy next to you, when you can hold the guy next to you accountable and know that he\u2019s got your back and you\u2019ve got his back, I think that\u2019s incredibly important in this sport. And I think you see that from the two teams that are still playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Schneider and Wolf are close, which makes this game especially meaningful to both. Earlier in the week, they had dinner together with another former Packers scout, Patriots senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s always been a resource for me and looked out for me in my career, and I can\u2019t thank him enough,\u201d Wolf said of Schneider.<\/p>\n Ron Wolf, the mentor to Schneider, Eliot Wolf and so many others, will be at the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI never try to root for too many other teams, but Seattle is probably one that I have just because of John and the people that he employs there,\u201d Eliot Wolf said, mentioning Seahawks assistant general manager Nolan Teasley and Seahawks vice president of player personnel Trent Kirchner.<\/p>\n \u201cI really respect the way they do things. I think it\u2019s kind of cool, too, just from my dad\u2019s standpoint, both these teams are using kind of his scouting system. We certainly believe that it works and Seattle certainly believes that it works. And here we are, the two teams in the Super Bowl. So, I think that\u2019s really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgt6bx7hd4rmrj4qf0.jpg\" "\\"New")
<\/p>\n