Eliot Wolf's time draws near; Banner 18 or else? Does Montgomery need to deliver?

We’re officially less than one week away from the draft. Thank. God. This writer has seen enough mock drafts, rumors, reports, and draft pundits yapping on TV to last a lifetime over the past several weeks. It’s time to see what the Patriots actually do, instead of what they could do in each of our fantasy worlds. And, boy, does this front office need to nail this draft.

We’ve seen plenty of pivotal drafts in New England over the past couple of decades. Moments that defined the future of a franchise. What would the Celtics be today without Danny Ainge drafting both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum? Ainge nailed it on both and changed his team’s trajectory for the next decade. 

Eliot Wolf is now in a similar position. The de-facto GM, during his press conference yesterday, again called the Patriots a “draft and develop” team. It’s now time to prove it.

IF Wolf stays at #3 and picks the right QB, your Patriots will have taken the first step, the most critical step, towards being a consistent NFL contender. Swing and miss? Yikes. There’s no room for such a large error with a top-3 pick. 

To make matters even more important are the recent misses on the offensive side of the ball. Yes, Bill Belichick is gone, but the jury is still out regarding how this iteration of the front office will perform. Especially since it’s a front office that was held over from the Belichick days, aside from new addition Alonzo Highsmith. This space is optimistic about Wolf’s future and how he’ll do next week, but we won’t know, until we see it. 

Among the questions: Does this front office think the wide receiver and offensive tackle classes are as deep as advertised? How many quarterbacks are actually desirable in the eyes of the Patriots? And, what kind of impact will the new grading system in Foxboro have in relation to the rest of the league and their feelings on certain players?

Of course, evaluating talent and setting up your board is only a part of the puzzle. How good is the intel that Wolf and his team has gathered over the last several weeks? Will Wolf’s reported vast network bear any fruit via trades? Will Wolf be able to manipulate the board like he wants or fall short? How does Wolf and others work under the pressure of the clock, having to make split-second decisions in big moments? 

Without a track record, none of us know the answers to any of these questions. And, yes, that’s nerve-racking given the weight of this draft. But, what’s done is done. We're far beyond handling the GM position differently. Let’s all hope Wolf is ready. The future of the New England Patriots will depend on it. 

Banner 18 or else?

As we get ready for the most recent attempt at Banner 18, we can’t help but wonder what else might be on the line over the next two months.

This season has been correctly defined as "title or bust." 

This begs the questions, as much as we don’t want to entertain them: What happens if they fall short? What happens if the Celtics fail to make it to the Finals? Or, even worse, get to the Finals and fall to an inferior Western Conference team? Could there be big changes? 

One thing has been clear since Brad Stevens took over for Ainge: The man doesn’t mess around. He’s aggressive. He gambles. He’s willing to do whatever he thinks is best for the basketball team, no matter how the fans may feel about a certain move or moves. 

Would Stevens look at a disappointing end of the season as a justifiable reason to make a dramatic change or changes? Could the future of Kristaps Porzingis be on the line? Could the future of Derrick White be considered if they don’t run through the tape? 

Or, would Stevens do something even more dramatic? Would he look at Brown and Tatum and say, “I’ve done all I can do for you guys. It’s time to make an even bigger change.” It’s hard to ever imagine the Celtics moving on from Tatum, so you have to wonder if Brown’s future in Boston could be in danger if this team fails. 

We wouldn’t put anything past Stevens after what we’ve seen from him. Let’s hope we won’t have to find out. Let’s hope Duckboats are the topic in June.

Speaking of Postseasons…

This Bruins season did not come with heightened expectations. As we’ve written in prior columns, this was a bridge year. 

However, there are several questions about the future of the Bruins that go hand-in-hand with this postseason. They will be favored in their series against Toronto and they should be. The Maple Leafs have seemingly been forever miserable against the B’s. 

With that in mind, could coach Jim Montgomery’s future be in trouble if they suffer a second straight first-round exit? The tremendous meltdown last year followed by a 109-point regular season team losing to a perceived welcome might be enough for the pink slip to be delivered.

On the other hand, if the Bruins do roll with a goaltender rotation throughout a deep run, does that change the math between the pipes? As tough as it is to imagine the Bruins keeping both goaltenders for next season, after they reportedly had a Linus Ullmark trade done at the deadline, would they rethink things if that deep run happens?

Would a good to great postseason performance change the future of Jake DeBrusk as a Bruin? Will Danton Heinen continue his unbelievable story with some playoff magic, putting his future in question as he walks into free agency? 

Lots of unknowns are ahead. For now, we’ll just enjoy this ride…