Homegrown personnel duo aims for glory at Super Bowl LX

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. (WBAY) - Super Bowl LX is a showdown between two homegrown personnel men, player pickers, at the peak of their powers, now eager to see how their chess pieces can match wits and wills on the big stage.

Seahawks GM John Schneider, and Patriots Executive VP of Player Personnel (de facto GM) Eliot Wolf, grew up in the Green Bay area, attended Notre Dame Academy – or it’s precursor, Abbot Pennings – cut their teeth as Packers scouts, then ascended to great heights now leading their own teams. And it sure looks like Eliot is cut from the same cloth as his Pro Football Hall of Fame father, Ron Wolf, who was GM of the Packers during the 1990s return to glory.

“I think from a young age I was probably self-aware that I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete,” Eliot Wolf said. “So in 5^th grade, what do you want to be when you grow up? NFL scout is what I said. Obviously I had the pathway to be able to do that, and just worked really hard to get to this point.”

That goal is not something his peers probably shared.

“Just having that advantage of being able to grow up around it, and able to learn from a lot of great people: my dad, John Dorsey, John Schneider, Reggie McKenzie, and a lot of the people who have mold me into the person I am today,” Wolf said.

If you had to boil it down to one thing, why would you say it is that your Patriots are on the Super Bowl stage this year?

“I just think the people. The relationships. The ability to come together and work together,” Wolf said.

These two Titletown-groomed de facto GMs have a long history together. Schneider even claimed at the NFL Scouting Combine a couple years ago that he babysat Wolf. But Eliot has a different recollection.

“He never babysat me, Wolf said. ”I would go into the office after school, sit, and watch film with him. Maybe that is what he was talking about. But I don’t think he ever actually babysat for me, he was just giving me a hard time.”

And that relationship remains strong to this day.

“It’s really good,” Wolf said. “Anytime I need some advice on something, he’s obviously one of the longest tenured GMs in the league. Being able to have that resource, pick up the phone and call him whenever, and he is always willing to help, it’s just really special. And even for me dad, to see both of us here at this big game.”

“He was always around us, always in the draft room with us, always sitting in our offices, taking in as much knowledge as he possibly could,” Schneider said in 2024.

And having to battle through some lean years to get here has made this Super Bowl run all the more special.

“It’s really rewarding,”: Wolf said. “None of us get into this to go 4-13 like we have the last two years. So just really being able to trust the process and trust the people we have here.”

And how important is it to get the quarterback right? Like Wolf did drafting Drake Maye at #3 overall in 2024.

“It’s very important,” Wolf said. “Drake has tough a great job. He is a great kid, great competitor, very tough, about the right things. Everything you guys see in the interviews is genuine. He’s got everything you look for. The competitiveness and toughness jump off the tape. Obviously the size and arm strength are requisites, but really just the competitiveness and the drive to elevate those around him.”

Both teams in the Super Bowl failed to make the playoffs last year, but both boast scoring offenses and scoring defenses ranked in the top 4. It’s the first Super Bowl of that variety since 1970.