Seahawks general manager John Schneider ducked out of a pre-draft meeting Friday afternoon to take a phone call.

Not about a trade. Or even a prospect. But an old friend.

Schneider, an ex-Packers executive, shared his best advice for a new GM preparing for his first draft, a description that now fits Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf. Schneider and Wolf have known each other since the early ’90s, when Schneider scouted for Wolf’s father in Green Bay. They later became colleagues in the Packers front office, where Wolf was hired as a personnel assistant in 2004.

Twenty years later, Wolf is working around the clock and across the country from Schneider, who selected four Pro Bowlers in his first draft with Seattle.

This was his advice: “Just being able to stay pliable, and ready for a million different scenarios,” Schneider told the Herald. “And trusting your preparation for those different scenarios.”

Lucky for Wolf, his scenarios at the top of the draft should be limited. The Patriots will be able to draft one of LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye or Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy third overall, after Chicago and Washington make their selections. Wolf could also trade back.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, however, told reporters at the NFL owners meetings last month that he would like to add a QB.

“In the end, I’ll let the team make the decision what they think is best. One way or another, I’d like to see us get a top-rate, young quarterback,” Kraft said.

That quarterback will likely define the Patriots’ next draft class and perhaps their upcoming era, under the leadership of Wolf and new head coach Jerod Mayo. Kraft has also called this year’s draft the team’s most anticipated in 31 years.

No pressure.

Ex-Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, now an analyst at SiriusXM, can relate. Dominik selected former Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman with his first-ever draft pick as Tampa Bay’s GM in 2010. But Freeman couldn’t cut it, and received his release four and a half years later, months before Dominik was eventually shown the door.

“The quarterback decision is tremendous,” Dominik said this week.

Wolf has previously stated he wants consensus among the team’s chief decision-makers, a group that figures to include him, Mayo, director of player personnel Matt Groh, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and possibly senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith. Dominik cautioned against that, however, insisting Wolf must stick to his convictions instead of finding an acceptable pick for the group.

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye runs with the ball against Clemson during the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022 in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

“The biggest trick you have, as a first-year general manager, is you are really looking to please everyone. And what I mean by that is you want everybody to kind of be on the same page. And that can be a mistake,” he said. “You can really mess it up because you’ve got the job because you’re an evaluator, and sometimes you want coach Mayo to be excited about his first pick or his first or second or third-round picks.

“But is this the player you really think is the right player for the team? Or maybe it’s your area scout that you’ve known for years is really pushing this player or that player.”

Dominik admitted that was something he fell victim to early on in Tampa Bay. He also praised Wolf as a tireless evaluator, someone he first came to know when they rubbed elbows more than a decade ago as advanced scouts working the same game. Wolf rose rapidly in Green Bay’s front office from 2004-17, then spent two seasons as the Browns assistant GM before moving to New England in 2020.

Under Wolf’s leadership, the Patriots have begun to follow many of the Packers’ core roster-building principles and implemented their scouting system. Highsmith, one of his new lieutenants and a Green Bay scout of almost 20 years, stressed the importance of consensus to Mayo early this offseason.

“What you guys have heard me say a lot, it’s about collaboration. And one thing that Alonzo Highsmith, one of our scouts, told me and I truly believe it – he’s been doing it for a long time – he said all the bad picks that he’s seen, it’s really been where everyone wasn’t on the same page,” Mayo said last month at the NFL Annual Meeting. “And you would hope that you could get everyone on the same page, coaches and also scouts.”

It’s unclear whether the Patriots have established consensus with regards to the draft’s top quarterbacks. Wolf shared he has a “general idea” of where his evaluators stand on Daniels, Maye and McCarthy, while mentioning there are six quarterback prospects near the top of the draft.

Yet Dominik believes that Wolf’s opinion should be a tiebreaker among that group, if necessary.

“You want Eliot Wolf to trust his scouting instincts and the years he’s put in to just go with what he thinks is best instead of trying to have the community’s happiness,” he said.

Dominik did admit to one benefit of trading down, which becomes a strong possibility if Wolf’s front office is indeed split on the quarterbacks; the Patriots, who also need wide receivers, offensive tackles and other weapons, could address those positions by adding extra picks.

“That’s the one tricky thing, is you realize you’re starting from scratch basically to not only just get the quarterback, right, but to finally get some players in New England that actually scare defensive coordinators,” he said. “They have players that are good, but I don’t think they have players that sit there and make the defensive coordinator sit around and go, ‘What are we going to do this week?’ ”

QB draft odds shift

Multiple sportsbooks have closed the gap between the odds LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye are drafted second overall.

As of late this week, Daniels and Maye owned matching odds of -115 at DraftKings, while Daniels (-125) maintained a slight edge over Maye (+100), per FanDuel. It’s unclear how predictive betting markets are to eventual draft odds, considering this time last year multiple sportsbooks anointed Kentucky product Will Levis to be the most likely pick at No. 2. Levis eventually went in the second round, while the Texans selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud.

The Bears are expected to draft USC quarterback and presumed No. 1 pick Caleb Williams first overall, while Washington general manager Adam Peters told reporters Thursday he did not envision trading down from No. 2. Wolf said the same day he believes a quarterback worthy of the No. 3 pick will be available to the team when they are on the clock.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA game on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Anderson’s adjustment

Hours after Wolf said Thursday he thinks newly-signed Chukwuma Okorafor would start at left tackle were the season to open tomorrow, the Patriots restructured the contract of one of Okorafor’s projected backups.

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Calvin Anderson agreed to a renegotiated deal that lowered the $3.35 million base value of his contract and created $990,000 in cape space for the Patriots, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Anderson is entering the final season of the two-year pact he signed last offseason. The veteran swing tackle has played both left and right tackle, but was limited to five games last season after dealing with an illness before and after the season opener.

New England Patriots offensive tackle Calvin Anderson reacts during the second half of an NFL game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023 in Foxboro. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper)

He previously spent three seasons in Denver, making 12 starts in a dozen games appearances. The Patriots also have Mike Onwenu, Vederian Lowe, Conor McDermott, Tyron Wheatley Jr. and Andrew Stueber at offensive tackle. Wolf’s front office is expected to draft another tackle high in next week’s draft.

Quote of the Week

“If I’m the only person that wants a player, and everybody else in the building doesn’t want that player, then I’m not crazy. We’re going to try to do what’s right.” – Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf at his pre-draft press conference