Analysis: Will Campbell’s Fate at Left Tackle | Should Patriots Replace Him?

0:00Will Campbell had a rough Superbowl and many are wanting him out at left tackle. Well, I'm here to tell you that's likely not the best idea. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Lockdown Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, been covering the paths for the past 16 years, also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles, NA Sports Radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. On today's show, Seattle had some wrinkles that surprised the past. That and more all 22 left overs in the third segment. In the second segment, we review Drake May Superbowl and how everything changed at the end of the first half.

1:00But first, let's discuss the man who is responsible for protecting Drake May's blind side. Of course, talking about Will Campbell. Today's episode is brought to by Fandall. The winter games are on and there's no better way to follow them than with a bet on Fandall. Fandall, play your game. No sugarcoding. Hopefully you know by now, I do not sugarcoat. Will Campbell was bad against the Seahawks. We talked about it in the live post game. I watched the film on Monday morning and I am here to report to all of you. Will Campbell was bad. However, the 14 pressures number that is being thrown around all over the place. Next gen stats came out after the game was over and said that Will Campbell gave up 14 pressures. I am here to tell you that is not true. That is not true. Will Campbell did not give up 14 pressures against the Seahawks. Again, he wasn't good. He was bad.

2:01He was awful. Whichever adjective you want to use about his poor play against the Seahawks, use it. I'm just telling you the facts. He didn't give up 14 pressures. The closer to reality number is seven or eight pressures. Again, awful, but not 14. Now, we'll get to his future in a couple of minutes, but first a few things. What have been the problems for Will Campbell, especially over the past several games? First and foremost, we begin with the idea that most of Will Campbell's issues and past protection have been happening against top and or elite past rushers in the NFL. Cleo Mack. Very difficult. Will Anderson Jr. Very difficult. Nick Benito. Very difficult. The Marcus Lawrence. Very difficult. There's a theme here. If you are a top tier past rusher. If you are somebody who has seen as an elite past rusher, you have had some pretty good reps against Will Campbell over the past month or so.

3:03So that's the first thing. If Will Campbell is going to lose to you, mono, mono, you're most likely an upper tier past rusher miles Garrett earlier in the season. I digress. Another part of the problem for Campbell is the number of these issues that he has faced in past protection. Many of them have been skiing. When you look at Seattle's pressure package during the Super Bowl, things that they did. Some things we'll talk about later on in this very show. Some of those things have bothered Campbell and not only Campbell, but they've also bothered Jared Wilson, which I would bring up as the next piece to this. Not only is Campbell dealing with being a rookie left tackle, but he's also playing next to another rookie. And we've said this from the very beginning of the year. That is an incredible challenge to have two rookie offensive lineman on your left side of the line protecting the blind side of your franchise quarterback. So when we're talking about top tier past rushers teams that can scheme some things up and having two rookies next to each other.

4:11That's a lot of the issues that we see Campbell running into. Secondly, something that stands out to me. Campbell is a very emotional guy on the field. His highs are very high, but his lows could be also very low off the field. His highs can be high, but also his lows can be pretty low. And when you look at the fact that Campbell did not speak to the media in the post game. That is another example of his emotions. He was very emotional after the game. And I get it. It's the biggest game of his life. He's 22 years old. He struggled. He's on national television. He's been dreaming about this moment probably for the last 18 years that he's been on this planet. And he failed. He failed. He knows he failed. Everybody knows that he failed. And that could certainly weigh on somebody. But the fact that even for 60 seconds, he couldn't find the right words or or put himself out there to speak to the media.

5:18That tells you about his emotional state. Think about the chargers when the Patriots beat the chargers in the post game. Mike Raible waiting for Campbell and the tunnel before you get into the locker room. And he's trying to almost force a smile from the left tackle because even though the Patriots won. Campbell is very upset. Again, that can work for you. That can drive you. That can motivate you. That can make you better. But it also can impact you on and off the field. And sometimes we see Campbell let things snowball in the first quarter of the very first drive of the game. Third and one, shock, unformation. Campbell gives up a pressure. Three plays later. First and 10, shock, unformation. Campbell gives up a sack. Two plays after that. Third and nine, shock, unformation. Devon witherspoon blitzes. Both Campbell and Jared Wilson give up a pressure. So we're talking about three of Campbell's seven or eight pressures in the game.

6:21We're on the first drive within like six or seven snaps. He let it snowball. And so my question is, can he learn to stop the bleeding? You would hope that comes with maturity. But there are lots of guys who know much more about offensive line play than I do defending Campbell after the Super Bowl. Mitchell Schwartz posted, I think Will Campbell is just late. His hands are late. So he's catching, but his feet are moving to and not set. He's getting zero power and no ability to stop power moves. There's a lot of bad Will Campbell talk analysis going on right now. And he says I'll put a video out later, but short arms and vertical sets are getting a bad rap when neither is the issue. It's Campbell's punch timing plus one extra technique adjustment. TJ Lang, another former offensive lineman, he posted. Campbell's going to be just fine. Needs to work on body control and exploding out of his stance more. None of his reps versus Seattle would be any different if his fingers were a half inch longer.

7:26Turn on arm stead, long time tackle in the league. He posted the issues are fixable. Campbell's trying to block the best players in the world without a solid foundation. His feet are constantly moving backwards before contact on 90% of these reps. They're impossible to anchor against power if your feet are not in the ground. So if if you're paying attention to guys that have played in the league for a long time, they're watching Will Campbell and they're saying, yeah, he's obviously losing these reps. He's losing many of these reps. He obviously did not have a good game against Seattle, but dot, dot, dot, these issues are fixable. These are technique problems. There's not fundamentally something wrong with how he is built. It is more technique. I'm saying that I never played offensive line. I never played in the NFL, but looking at these guys that have been there to run arm stead, TJ Lang Mitchell Schwartz.

8:26Will the Anderson also who will get to in a minute? They're telling me they're telling you that nothing about Will Campbell's performance can't be fixed. And so I would not quit on Campbell. I would not quit on Campbell at left tackle, not yet. And I've said this from the very beginning from when they drafted Campbell, if he can be an average to slightly above average left tackle, then that is a win. Now, if you can find a left tackle eventually that is above average or great, then yeah, you can have the conversation. But right now as you're looking on to this roster and you're looking up and down, I'm not going to quit on him at 22 years old. I expect him to get better. Only 22. I expect him to continue to adapt to the NFL and learn about these players. He's going against in the speed and the strength of these players. I expect with Doug Marone and Jason Holtaling and Robert Kugler. I expect the offensive line coaching staff to continue to work with Campbell on his technique.

9:33Now, if he is a disaster at the end of 2026 or the first month or two, it just looks wretched, then we could always come back and have this conversation. And I don't have an issue. If you're not comfortable with veterinarian low, bringing in somebody who was a veteran to have a little bit of a competition, but I'm not quitting on Campbell at left tackle. The fact is during the regular season, he was above average in many games. And I would say he landed somewhere between average and above average for a rookie season. The playoffs, not good, but he played a lot of football. And I thought he was certainly a solid tackle. And I'm not moving off of him right now because he just went through his first post season against a bunch of great past rushers and didn't look good. Willie Anderson talking about moving will Campbell to left guard, for example.

10:33Willie Anderson again in the league for a long time. His opinion, he posted, you got to give Campbell another year in an off season. His ability and correct teaching and training will be huge this off season. He needs to train skills full speed with the guys in front of him. And if you tell me just replace will Campbell, my question is, who are you going to replace him with? And also, let's not forget that you have other holes that absolutely need to be addressed this off season. It's not an easy answer here where you just get rid of your left tackle. You throw somebody in and it works like magic. So I'm going to stand by will Campbell. Give him a full off season. Let him get healthy. Let him get back to camp. You want to bring in somebody who's a veteran who can compete a little bit. You know, make sure that he's keeping his feet to the fire. Sure, but I am not quitting on him. I am not quitting on him after his first season, not at 22 years old.

11:33Not after watching him play average to above average for most of the regular season. And that's what we saw. Drake May's night took a turn for the worst right before half time full breakdown next. This is lockdown Patriots, part of the lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. The winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. You only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winter games on Fandall. Just make sense from metal counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports you care about most. Fandall gives you more ways to stay connected to the action. The drama of curling matches. I love curling that starts slow and somehow get intense fast speed skating races decided by inches hockey games that feel different right from the opening face off. Even niche events become must watch when you're fully locked into the competition. And Fandall keeps the entire Olympic experience engaging from start to finish.

12:36We're talking about Fandall. You know about Fandall, the winter games. They are on and there's no better way to follow them than with Fandall. Fandall, play your game. All right. So if you're not fond of interruptions, which is most likely many of you, you can try the every day or club. Add free episodes of this show. Discord access and more. Go to Lockdown Patriots dot supercast dot com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Also, as you watch on YouTube, help us out by clicking that thumbs up button. Don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment. Would you move Will Campbell out of left tackle already? Or do you want to have a little bit more patience like I want to have a little bit more patience with him? Like comment and subscribe. We did not hit the 9000 subscriber goal, but that's okay. We keep on pushing. We got a very busy off season to cover. I mean, we're a couple of weeks from the combine. We're a month away from free agency.

13:37It's going to be a very, very busy off season. So don't forget to like comment and sub. Appreciate you. So I dug into the film on Monday morning, early afternoon. And when we talked about the Super Bowl, we talked about Drake May. And I said, Drake may has to be better than he was against the chargers against the Texans against the Broncos. You can maybe get away with a little bit of the Houston game. A couple of touchdowns he threw, which were really nice throws. If he could come up with some big plays, that'd be nice. But he has to be better. He has to be better, especially then he was against Denver. You're not going to be able to survive with really no passing game. The fact is Drake May was not better. He was worse in a number of different ways. And, you know, I think that as I, as I mentioned this in the post game, the live post game we did after the Super Bowl. It felt in real time that Drake May was impacted by the offensive line play early on in this game, right?

14:40Past protection wasn't there. And after a few drives, it started to seepin to the quarterback's brain. And honestly, looking back and in watching this game over again, I thought Drake May was okay. He wasn't great, but I thought he was okay before the final drive of the first half. That's when bad habits started to creep in. You know, you had a really nice play on a third and seven. Great job getting out of tough field position. The Patriots starting the drive on their own two yard line. Again, final drive of the first half. Third and seven conversion of pop Douglas, you start feeling good. Maybe they can get some points up on the board at that point. You know, you're still in this football game. It's your smack dab in the middle of the football. You don't have much of a of a problem looking at this and saying, oh, there's no way they can win this game. So you get that third and seven conversion. And then second and seven under center play action bootleg play.

15:40You remember this probably because the Patriots did not call a lot of bootlegs against the Seahawks moving to his right. And boy, a mafia has a pressure on May, but May has the flat. He's got the flat to Austin Hooper and Chris Collins where it said it and he was right. He's got the throw to Austin Hooper, especially late, but he's more in flight mode and he just throws the football away. If he hits Hooper, you might extend it. You might move the chains. Third and seven shotgun formation. And you have split. So you got two guys. One guy on the each side fall start on Campbell. So now you're looking at a third and 12. You get back and do shotgun formation. Nick, even worry blitzes. And May takes a deep shot to Mac Collins. It's an incomplete pass down the right sideline. He actually has Kesha on booty open. He's got him open deep down. Feel a little bit on an in route. And he decides to throw it to Mac Collins. Meanwhile, I'll tell you Mac Collins actually beats Josh Job on that play and may just misses him.

16:43So a couple of plays at the end of the first half. I thought started this to really decline in May's play and what we saw, especially in the third quarter. The third quarter was rough, man. The third quarter was rough. I thought May struggled with his decision making at times. I thought he was inaccurate. I thought there was some clear miscommunication between he and his receivers on a couple of throws. And there was one play we'll talk about where, you know, he kind of just drifts up into the pocket. We saw that at North Carolina. You haven't seen a ton of it this year, but he kind of drifts up into the pocket and create his own pressure. And causes a bigger issue. So a few of the plays, third quarter, the first drive right out of the locker room. First and 10 shotgun play action. He's got pop Douglas against Nick, even worry and complete. Now this play is where again, you've got man the shotgun, little play action and pop kind of runs somewhat of a wheel route against Nick, even worry.

17:49And the play is never there. Douglas is never open. He's never open. But we talked about this last week, getting prepared for the Seattle defense and what the Patriots could do to attack that defense. And one of the things that I mentioned was getting vertical routes. And then having guys underneath those vertical routes to go along with some trips. And Josh McDaniels did have plays three by one with trip receivers to the right to the left. He did do that. And there were times when those plays were open. But this play first play out of the locker room, third quarter, you've got to dialed up. Douglas versus even worry, but underneath that is Ramondrey Stevenson in the flat. In Ramondrey Stevenson is wide open. There's nobody within 10 yards of Ramondrey Stevenson. But may throws it to Douglas, the route is covered. It's an incomplete pass. If may makes the simple read in the simple throw to Stevenson, Stevenson gets, I don't know how many yards, 10, 15, maybe 20, maybe more.

18:57The play was there. May missed it. Third quarter, second drive. So right after that first drive, second drive and the third quarter, third and two shotgun formation. May miss his pop Douglas pop Douglas is open. He had him. He missed him. And what you saw was a little bit of happy feed in the pocket. He's tap dancing a little bit. And he misses pop. By the way, on that same play, he also had Stefan digs down the left sideline deep. Digs has his hand up because digs actually beats Devon with her spoon. And May doesn't make that throw. He throws it to pop, which is fine because it was the safer throw. Pop was more open, but he misses pop. Third drive, third quarter. Told you, third quarter was rough. First in 10, shotgun formation, trips to the left. Drake may take a sack. This is the play where it's to fond digs springs free late. You might have sought. NBC showed the end zone, right? They showed the end zone replay of this.

19:58And you could see Stefan digs kind of spring open late. Well, that's the play where may drifts up into the pocket for really no reason. There's not a lot of pressure there, but he he drifts up into the pocket. And he not only misses digs who's open, but he walks into a sack. Bad play. Third and four shotgun again, trips left. He's got cash on booty open. Misses him. You remember that play threw it a little too far ahead of cash on booty. So these were the types of plays that may missed. There were plays to be had. There were opportunities out there in between the offensive line crumbling early and may late second quarter. And through the third quarter, some of his issues creeping back in the Patriots could not take advantage of it. And we've said this from the beginning with Drake throughout the year, you know, his highs that the back-to-back throws to Mac Holland's in the fourth quarter. That ends up, you know, in a touchdown drive extremely difficult throws. The highs are really high, but they have to outweigh the lows.

21:01The misses the turnovers. My buddy Greg Bedard, he wrote, Drake may committed five turnovers under pressure, including three strips acts and two interceptions in the playoffs after committing just six such turnovers during the regular season. Can you have more highs than the lows? And how low are the lows? Now, what would help because it's not all on Drake, not all on Drake, may your offensive tackles have to block consistently. Having some run game also helps you. So you're not one dimensional. And having a true alpha number one wide receiver, which we've talked about all your long as good as Stefan Diggs has been. He is not your true alpha number one. Those things would help. But it was a rough third quarter and it began to get rough at the end of the first half. And I think all of the early online past protection issues, no doubt impacted Drake, may Seattle's defensive wrinkle, the battle of explosives and more film takeaways next.

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23:03Visit turbo tax dot com slash local to book your appointment today. Don't forget like comment and subscribe. We talked about explosive plays early last week getting ready for the Super Bowl. And we talked about how each of these two offenses were very dependent on explosive plays. And the fact is Seattle owned the explosive plays in the Super Bowl, especially early on. But just some examples for you. And there were more. I'll just give you some examples. The first quarter their first try first and 10 under sensor play action from Sam Donald hits Cooper cup against Marcus Jones. Remember this play was near the sidelines. There was some question of whether or not it was a catch said it was a catch chunk play explosive. Second quarter, fourth drive for the Seahawks offense. And by the way, of course that first drive for the Seahawks ended up at a field goal. Fourth drive, the next time they scored kicking their second field goal, you had two explosives.

24:07You had those two huge runs from Kenneth Walker, second and 10 gun formation Kenneth Walker bounces it out. You don't contain the edge 30 yards later. Second and 10 under sensor. Another big run, 29 yards. And on this play Kyrie's Tonga Corey dirt and got blown off the line of scrimmage. So you add two huge plays for Kenneth Walker. Seahawks get a field goal out of it right after half time. The Seahawks actually string together four of five plays in the first drive of the second half for Seattle. Ten yards or more. You had some coverage issues. You had a couple of mistakels. So the Seahawks hit these explosives. The Patriots were not as consistent with their explosive plays. And when they had explosive plays, a lot of them kind of like Seattle was okay with. You know, you look at the second and 20, for example, first drive for the Patriots. This is after Will Campbell gives up a sack. It's second and 20 shotgun formation Drake May scrambles for 11 yards.

25:08Seattle's going to live with that because now you're stuck at third nine. Second drive first quarter. You had the six offensive lineman, which by the way, only one snap six offensive lineman. We'll talk about that later on. But first and 10 six offensive lineman under sensor play action. Drake May extends the play. He moves up. He hits K Sean booty for 21 yards. After that play. After that play the second drive of the game in the first quarter. The Patriots did not have a single explosive play until you get to the fourth quarter. Just not enough explosives for an offense that was so dependent on those types of plays. Seattle got him. You did it. Seattle threw some wrinkles at the Patriots offensive line. And Patriots weren't ready for it. And the Patriots did not respond great. I'll give you one example, Devon with her spoon. He had not blitzed a long time.

26:09I think it was Andrew Callahan said he hadn't blitzed since like set since a week 16. He blitzed five or six times in this game. And the Patriots were completely not ready for it. Completely stunned by it. And Devon with her spoons blitzing caused some chaos for the Patriots offensive lineman for the Patriots offense. That was just one wrinkle among a few others. Remondrey Stevenson talked about it live in the post game real time. It felt like he didn't have many touches at all. And I looked it up during the live post game. He had seven carries seven carries. When you really break this down, it frustrates me. It infuriates me. Remondrey Stevenson did not have a single touch in the second half until the second fourth quarter drive. The second drive of the fourth quarter. You went the entire third quarter and a drive in the fourth quarter without getting Stevenson the football.

27:10He's been your best offensive player most consistent guy over the past month and a half two months. It is just inexcusable to me that he did not get a single touch in the second half until the second drive of the fourth quarter. Something else that's interesting. The Patriots only had one single solitary snap with six offensive lineman. It was the chunk play. It was the 21 yard gain to K. Sean Booty. They never went back to it. And we talked about this idea of trying to run with six offensive lineman trying to make Seattle adjust and get out of the nickel in the dime. And then if you can play six o' lineman, then maybe you throw out of that. Josh McDaniels didn't even really try it. And to me, it looked like the Patriots walked into this game. It really felt like watching this over again. They had no confidence in their run game. They almost didn't want to run the football. They hardly ever ran twice in a row. We talked about that in live post game. You get three yards on a first down and then you just bail from the run and throw throw and get yourself in trouble.

28:10Again, Stevenson had seven carries the entire game. Just gave you the second half. Lack of touches. They didn't play six offensive lineman played it for one snap. I don't get it. I thought they would be committed to the run. They would at least try. If you're getting three or four yards, that's that's a win against that defense. I mentioned this earlier, but the Patriots, Josh McDaniels did try the trips formations with the three receivers on one side of the line of scrimmage. Whether that was on the right or the left. He did try some clear out routes. And those things actually worked multiple times. But unfortunately, they just couldn't execute it. Whether it was the offensive line giving up quick pressure or it was Drake May not making the throw making the wrong read. Those plays were there. There were some opportunities defensively Milton Williams. I thought was really good. Of course, he missed a couple of shots at Sam Donald. He did have a mistackle in the backfield of Kenneth Walker.

29:10But Milton Williams consistently was disrupting this Seattle offensive line. I thought Christian Barmore was good. I thought this second half, the defensive line was really good. They did a much better job on the edges containing the run. And I thought that D line played really well in the second half. You look at Craig Woodson. I said it in real time. I'll say it again after the rewatch. He was terrific. Christian Gonzalez was also really, really good. But you walk away from this game. You just say, man, the defense was good enough. The offense early offensive line problems. May's late second quarter into the third quarter. And they were really just like one play short on multiple drives. We're talking about, you know, if two or three plays went differently. This game might have been a completely different story and it would have been tighter. I mean, the first drive you're moving the football, you're in Seattle territory. Will Campbell gives up a sack. You're stuck at second and 20.

30:10The drives over. Then you've got another driver. I think it was the second drive. And, you know, you run Travian Henderson and Jared Wilson blows his block. Just misses his block for your loss. You're staring at a second and 14 drive pretty much dead. Next drive or two drives later, whichever it was. You've got Hunter Henry open in the slot. Drake May throws it high and behind him. I know some people said Henry dropped it. He's got to catch it. I rewatch that thing. That's a very tough catch for Hunter Henry. Not a good throw. It's high. It's behind him. And he's got to like torque his body in a weird way. Very difficult. So you just, you have these different plays where just killed momentum. Jared Wilson giving up a sack. Just killed momentum. If you could have just executed Drake May missing pop Douglas. Drake May missing K. Sean booty. May not throwing the Ramondra Stevenson underneath the pop route to start the third quarter. Lack of execution. It was frustrating to watch.

31:11So frustrating. All right. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first. Listen for being in every day. Reach out to me on Twitter at nixie radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit the like button and subscribe. And if you're looking for a gift for someone. Make it easy. Check out the every day or club. Add free episodes exclusive discord server access and more subscriptions can be gifted through Lockdown Patriots dot supercast dot com have a great day. And we will see you tomorrow. Thank you.