It’s incredibly rare for an offensive lineman to become a big talking point coming out of the Super Bowl. But everyone saw New England Patriots left tackle Will Campbell struggle against the Seattle Seahawks.
Campbell, the fourth overall pick of last year’s NFL Draft, was attacked by the Seahawks on defense and he allowed too many pressures in the biggest game of the season. Campbell struggled throughout the playoffs, but he had an injury excuse. Campbell revealed days after the Super Bowl that he was playing through a torn knee ligament.
That’s a major reason the Patriots have defended Campbell after his rough postseason.
“When he came back from that injury, I personally didn’t see the same level of lower body strength that you saw before the injury and I think the film would attest to that,” Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday. “He probably had three of his four worst games in the playoffs. But before that, I thought Will played really well all year.”
There has been discussion of Campbell moving into guard. Part of that is he has shorter arms that usual for a left tackle. Earlier this offseason Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was adamant that Campbell wouldn’t switch positions, and Wolf echoed that he doesn’t have concerns about Campbell at left tackle.
“I think everyone talks about the arm length, but he has a set of skills that enable him to play with that arm length,” Wolf said. “He’s really quick out of his stance, he’s tecnhically sound, he’s adding more and more pass sets to his tool bag that he can use to combat different rushes. He’s 22 years old and we expect some improvement out of him as well.”
The Patriots became the first team to start two rookies on the offensive line in a Super Bowl, with Campbell at left tackle and Jared Wilson at left guard. The line still seems like an area of need for the Patriots after it struggled to protect Drake Maye in the playoffs, but Wolf didn’t sound too concerned.
“With our best five out there we won a lot of football games,” Wolf said. “Obviously the last game was not very productive in a lot of areas on offense, and we’re just excited Will and Jared are made of the right stuff and we’re excited about what they’re going to do moving forward.”