On Thursday night, the Patriots did what many around the football world expected them to do, as LSU left tackle Will Campbell was selected No. 4 overall by New England in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Despite all the chatter around Campbell’s historically short arm measurement at the NFL Scouting Combine, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel forged ahead with the player who has been talked about since last summer as the top left tackle candidate in this year’s draft class.
And after listening to Vrabel’s post-pick press conference on Thursday night, it’s as if the Patriots new leading man would’ve taken Campbell whether he had 32 ⅝-inch arms, 300-inch arms, or no arms at all.
Mike Vrabel loves Will Campbell.
“Adding Will to our football team is about a foundational piece, a young 21-year-old that's mature beyond his years,” said Vrabel. “He's a leader. He's durable. He's physical, dependable, accountable. He's a quick study. 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.
“We spent a lot of time, and we looked at a lot of other players and worked a lot of other players out. He made a huge impact on us, and we're excited about adding him and look forward to seeing him and his family here tomorrow.”
For Vrabel, Campbell not only fit a glaring need at left tackle, but in his view was the best player available with three selections already made ahead of New England - a needle he said the team would be looking to thread when he met with the media on April 15.
“I mean, I think that's certainly the easiest way to look at it,” Vrabel said Thursday when asked if Campbell met both those criteria. “That's how the board fell, and that's how we anticipated it going for quite a while, and that's where we targeted. We had some conversations to make sure that we were prepared. Those situations that we talked about a few weeks ago prior to the draft that we went through on Monday, and this was a very, very easy pick for us.”
For weeks leading up to the draft, the local and national media has been reporting that the Patriots were both eager and content with picking Campbell at No. 4 overall, with NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah telling the media that he had “continually heard” that the LSU-product was going to be selected by New England.
According to Vrabel on Thursday, it appeared their coveting of Campbell aligned with the 21-year-old’s desire to be in New England as well.
“I'll just tell you this - when we went down there to work him out, he showed up with one purpose, and that was for us to pick him,” said Vrabel. “From the time that we walked in the building to the time that we left and got on the plane, he had one objective, and that was to prove to us that he was the right player for us. I'll say that, and I can speak for everybody else that was there.”
Campbell confirmed as much during his press availability over Webex shortly after being drafted, saying he knew as early as Week 5 of the college football season that he wanted to be selected by New England - citing a visit by executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf to a practice in Baton Rouge that sealed the deal for him.
“I told [Wolf] and our area scout Alex Brooks that I wanted to be a Patriot, and that happened in the middle of the season,” said Campbell. “I've had great interactions with everybody throughout the process. A lot of them, private workouts, 30-visits, just being up there, getting to meet everybody. It’s just where I wanted to be, and I'm just super excited to get there.”
While it may have been a visit from Wolf in the early fall that put the Patriots in sharpie at the top of Campbell’s wish list, it was Vrabel’s visit to LSU for their private workout with the player that bonded the two in a way most of us will never understand:
Campbell put Vrabel on his ass.
“There's a report that you were involved in the workout last week and threw a blocking pad on,” said The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed. “Why is that important for you to be involved with that?”
“Who made that report, and then I'll answer the question?” Vrabel fired back.
When Kyed told him ESPN’s Pete Thamel, he relinquished the intel on getting beat bad by his new left tackle.
“OK, well, Pete, Mr. College Football - yeah, they all knock me around pretty good,” said Vrabel. “I realize I'm close to 50, and if that tape ever gets out, people are going to have some problems. I hope that tape never sees the light of day. I think it was important for me to get out there, feel them and feel every player that we evaluated at the line of scrimmage.”
Campbell confirmed the story with a chuckle when he spoke to the media, saying, “Yeah, I mean, I got him. I'm not going to lie, I got him on the ground.”
Blocking a 49-year-old during a workout is one thing, but can Campbell’s short arms translate to a high-level of play at the professional level?
Vrabel made it clear on Thursday that he isn’t worried.
“Everybody has a play style, everybody has a skill set, and it's what you do within that skill set and the tricks that you learn in this business and how you play and how you do your job,” said Vrabel. “I think he's learned a lot of those, to play on the left side and to pass protect. For a taller player, he sinks his hips in the run game and is able to stay attached in the pass game, widen the pocket and create the width of the pocket and get out on the perimeter. It's a total package.
“If you drop back and you throw the ball 40 times in this league, it's tough sledding for anybody. Let me just tell you that. If it turns into a drop back passing game in the National Football League, it's going to be an issue for anybody. When you talk about play style, how is he going to be able to create that? For offensive linemen, it's so much about a reaction of resetting your hand, chopping the arm down, all these tricks of the trade that they use. They have to be able to make great decisions and split-second decisions. His body of work is out there on the left side against a lot of really good rushers. They're all going to get beat. We can watch every time that a left tackle gets beat. They all get beat. I've been in this league for 25 years. I'm confident in how quickly he is able to process, change, and have a lot of different pitches at such a young age.”
But what if Vrabel’s wrong? What if Campbell isn’t able to overcome the physical limitations of being a short-armed tackle in the NFL?
As far back as March, MassLive’s Karen Guregian reported that the Patriots are both willing and prepared to move him inside to play guard if needed.
On Thursday, Vrabel wasn’t willing to go there.
“Is he a left tackle?” asked Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi.
“Yeah - I mean, that's where he started,” said Vrabel. “He's a left tackle. That's what he's played, that's what he's done. He'll come in here and he'll compete to be the left tackle just like everybody else is going to compete for their spots. That's what we're trying to create here, somewhere that there's competition at every position and that our players believe that the best players are going to play.”
“If Will eventually has to move inside, is this a misevaluation, this high in the draft at fourth overall?” asked Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard in a follow-up.
“I think that what we're focused on is where he's going to be tomorrow and the next day and not what the misevaluation is,” said Vrabel. “We coveted this player. This was a very good football player. I think part of the draft is adding great pieces and great players to your roster, which is what we did. He hasn't even shown up here in Foxborough, and we're not going to talk about where he's going to play or what he's going to do.
“I'm going to let everything really speak for itself, and let his play, what he does in the community and most importantly on the field, before we start talking about that. I just think that's not fair. I've never thought about that one time. We've watched every game that he's played, put a lot of work into this, and we're all excited and happy that he's here.”
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