Andrew Callahan: The Patriots made a big, big bet on Will Campbell

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald on Apr 26, 2025

Published in Football

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Robert Kraft walked the open Gillette Stadium turf Friday afternoon until he reached a small stage at midfield.

He climbed a two-step staircase and settled behind a waiting podium, with his newest New England Patriot in tow.

Then Kraft welcomed Will Campbell, just as he has every other Patriots top pick for most of the past 25 years. In his opening remarks, Kraft mentioned the first rookie he introduced this way, Richard Seymour.

Drafted sixth overall in 2001, Seymour was a prototypical fit for Bill Belichick’s first Super Bowl-winning defense; as if Belichick had assembled him in a lab to anchor the Patriots’ new 3-4 front. Not long after, Seymour helped launch a dynasty and himself into league lore as a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

On Friday, Kraft eventually ceded the stage to Campbell by saying he hopes the 21-year-old tackle can help usher in a new era just as Seymour did. A lofty ask to be sure, but one Mike Vrabel co-authored by picking Campbell fourth overall. He believes.

“Adding Will to our football team is about a foundational piece,” Vrabel said Thursday night, “a young 21-year-old that’s mature beyond his years.”

If Campbell proves Vrabel right, the odds he will have climbed will be far steeper than the two-step staircase he scaled Friday.

He will become the first NFL offensive lineman since 1999 to stick at tackle with a wingspan shorter than 78 inches. Campbell measured in at 77 3/8 inches during the draft process. He repeatedly pooh-poohed the notion his arm length will affect him at the next level, fairly noting it didn’t hurt him at LSU, where coaches shared similar concerns before signing him as a recruit.

But the NFL, not Campbell, nor Vrabel, nor anyone else in New England, will decide his fate.

The opponents looking to embarrass him, drive a straight arm into his chest and knock him flat on his back; they will reveal whether Campbell can stand tall against history and stand alone.

The Patriots believe Campbell will become a historic exception for the same reason all height-weight-length exceptions exist in the NFL: he’s already an outlier athlete and competitor. In college, he started 38 of 40 games and developed into one of the school’s all-time offensive linemen and leaders. A walking, talking, blocking, snarling culture driver.

“Culture is everything. Culture wins you games,” Campbell said Friday. “That goes for any stage of any sport, whether it be high school, college, NFL. That’s what’s going to set you up for success in the long run because whenever you have that bond, the trust in the guy next to you and that relationship, you’re willing to do whatever to make sure that you succeed and not let the guy next to you down. That’s something that I’m all about.”

As for the physical, consider the great short quarterbacks. Passers like Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray and Doug Flutie all overcame their smaller stature by compensating with other elite traits: accuracy, decision-making, rapid processing and a quick release.

For Campbell, that will mean foot speed (93rd percentile in the 40-yard dash), explosion out of his stance (93rd percentile in the broad jump), violence and adaptability.

“He’s a quick study,” Vrabel said. “We spent a lot of time with him. Whatever mistakes that showed up, which they all do, he recovers quickly and can fix those mistakes.”

In the end, Campbell does not need to reach the heights of a Brees, Wilson or hell, even Murray. He needs to stay on the field and fix a long-term problem at left tackle that has now dogged Patriots quarterbacks from Mac Jones to Bailey Zappe, Jacboby Brissett and finally Drake Maye.

And if Campbell succeeds, the next step is Brian O’Neill.

O’Neill is the Vikings’ longtime starter at right tackle, a two-time Pro Bowler with a wingspan barely an inch longer than Campbell’s. He went in the second round of the 2018 draft. Questions abounded over his arm length that spring, and he proved to be what was then the ultimate exception.

This past year, O’Neill started his 100th game for the Vikings midway through his seventh season. He graded out as the 12th-best offensive tackle in the league at Pro Football Focus. He will never be revered as a franchise pillar like Seymour or ranked among the all-time greats at his position.

But he was enough. More than enough, relative to expectations.

And now, starting over again 25 years later, that’s exactly what the Patriots need.

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