SAN FRANCISCO — Eliot Wolf and John Schneider were both raised in the Packers’ scouting department that preached draft, develop repeat. Sometimes children stray from the path, however, and that’s exactly what Wolf and Schneider have done to build the Patriots and Seahawks’ rosters in Super Bowl LX.

The Patriots intended to build through the draft when Eliot Wolf was promoted to executive vice president of player personnel in 2024, so the team re-signed its own in-house free agents and put together an eight-pick draft class, of which two players remain on their Super Bowl roster.

Left with holes all over its roster and over $100 million in cap space, the Patriots were left with no choice but to spend it in free agency.

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The Seahawks have had much more success building through the draft, but even Schneider needed help to turn his roster into a contender and pulled off key trades and spent $243 million in free agency this offseason.

The Patriots ranked first in free-agent spending this offseason, while the Seahawks ranked third. That would have been unheard of while Wolf and Schneider were working under Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson in Green Bay.

So, what constants remain among Wolf and Schneider in their roster-building philosophies?

“I think the emphasis on primarily building through the draft, which is our goal,” Wolf told the Herald during Super Bowl week. “Obviously, the 2024 draft wasn’t strong, and the 2025 draft looks like it is so far. But we’re emphasizing draft and develop, and we have the coaching staff to be able to accomplish that. But also, one of the cool things that I think Schneider has done in Seattle, that we’re going to try and do, or have tried to do as well, is not only using draft to develop, is trying to improve the team any way we can. Obviously, free agency this year was big for us.

“But free agency, trades, waiver wire, poaching, all those avenues that I learned from Ted Thompson in Green Bay, that maybe was a little bit more averse to spending big in free agency in most cases, and didn’t really want to make any big trades. I don’t believe in that. I think if you have an opportunity to improve your roster in the short term and in the long term, that’s something you have to look at.”

That’s good news for Patriots fans who are not content with one Super Bowl run and want to maintain a competitive roster for years to come.

This offseason, the Patriots own 12 draft picks, and five of those are in the first four rounds. They’ll also pick very late in the first round and could probably find a higher-impact player through a trade.

The Patriots’ philosophy is also circumstantial now, since its influences are varied. Wolf came from Green Bay, head coach Mike Vrabel and his right hand man John Streicher have a say, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden learned under Marty Hurney, and vice president of player administration Matt Groh and director of research Richard Miller are Patriots lifers.

The Patriots’ circumstances this offseason were that they had a barren roster with a lot of cap space.

“Oh, it affected it quite a bit,” Wolf said of the Patriots’ cap space. “Richard Miller has always reminded me that we spent two years worth in one year. But I think that was necessary to supplement the roster and as I look at the free agency class, there were some players that obviously are helping us right now. But players like Milton Williams, who probably in a normal situation — like Philly, was in such a unique situation with a young, ascending player that was a backup that they couldn’t really afford to keep. And guys like that don’t often become available, and we had the opportunity to get in the mix there with the negotiating. And obviously, he came. I think just having the blessing of the Krafts to be able to do that was paramount, as well.”

Wolf has brought in some of his own guys, like senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith and his son, director of pro personnel AJ Highsmith.

“I think coming from Green Bay and the system that I grew up in, like it was the system I grew up in, so it was all I knew, and I really liked it. But there’s not one way to do things successfully, and you never know exactly how that’s gonna look,” Wolf said. “I’d say I learned, and we’ve kept a lot of the things from the — I don’t know if it’s the (Bill) Belichick, (Scott) Pioli, (Nick) Caserio scale that we still implement, that are good things. So, I think it’s always an evolving process to try to get your process better, and that’s something that we’ll continue to look at as we move forward.”

Wolf and Schneider will likely always believe in drafting and developing. But you also have to adapt or die. Both front office executives chose to adapt, and it’s brought the two friends to Super Bowl LX.