Patriots reportedly bringing in Alonzo Highsmith to join front office

FOXBORO -- While the Patriots have been hard at work building up Jerod Mayo's coaching staff, the front office had remained untouched since Bill Belichick's departure from New England. That reportedly changed Wednesday.

The Patriots are reportedly finalizing a deal to bring University of Miami football general manager Alonzo Highsmith into the front office fold, according to The Athletic. Highsmith's job title with the team remains TBD, but he will serve as an executive in personnel. 

The 58-year-old will bring plenty of experience to New England, and most notably, experience with Eliot Wolf, who is now viewed as the leading voice in the Patriots' front office. Highsmith and Wolf worked together in Green Bay from 2012-17, when Highsmith was a senior executive of the Packers and Wolf served as director of pro personnel (2012-15), director of player personnel (2015-16), and director of football operations (2016-17). 

Wolf moved on to become the assistant general manager with the Cleveland Browns in 2018, and Highsmith followed him, taking over as the VP of player personnel in Cleveland from 2018-19. While Wolf became a consultant with the Patriots in 2020, Highsmith joined the Seahawks and was a personnel executive in Seattle for two years before making his way back to Miami.

A star player for the Miami Hurricanes in the 1980s and the third overall pick in 1987, Highsmith rejoined his alma mater in 2022 as the football team's general manager, where he was the main guy in terms of talent evaluation. He worked closely with head coach Mario Cristobal and helped Miami to top-10 recruiting classes in back-to-back seasons. 

Now he'll bring his keen eye for young talent to New England, where he'll once again be reunited with Wolf. Highsmith should become a valuable voice in the Patriots' pre-draft process, which will be extremely important this year with New England set to pick third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.