One piece of the New England Patriots' staffing puzzle has fallen into place.
The Patriots named Matt Groh as their director of player personnel Tuesday. Groh fills the role last held by Dave Ziegler, who took the Raiders' general manager job earlier this offseason to join new Las Vegas head coach Josh McDaniels.
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Groh, the son of former Patriots player and assistant coach Al Groh, has been with the organization since 2011, when he got his start as a scouting assistant. The Hingham, Mass., native and Princeton alum spent six seasons as an area scout and two seasons as a national scout before being promoted to director of college scouting in 2021.
Groh joined Ziegler and front office consultant Eliot Wolf during the 2021 offseason to form the "collaborative" trio that filled the void left by previous director of player personnel Nick Caserio. That new structure paid dividends at the 2021 NFL Draft, where New England hit three home runs in quarterback Mac Jones, running back Rhamondre Stevenson and defensive tackle Christian Barmore.
The Patriots still have plenty of vacancies in their front office and coaching staff -- they still don't have an offensive coordinator -- but Tuesday's announcement signaled a step in the right direction as they sort out their staffing plans for 2022.