{"id":868648,"date":"2026-08-23T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868648\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:00:10","slug":"new-england-patriots-will-campbell-leaning-into-advice-from-top-linemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868648\/","title":{"rendered":"New England Patriots’ Will Campbell leaning into advice from top linemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots<\/a> and NFL:<\/p>\n

1. Campbell\u2019s truth: To prepare for his second NFL season, Patriots starting left tackle Will Campbell<\/a> leaned into the advice of veteran Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> offensive tackle Lane Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLane told me, \u2018You have to be very honest with yourself about the season,\u2019\u201d Campbell told ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like before I got hurt [Nov. 23], I was playing some solid ball. And after that, I didn\u2019t play the way I needed to play. So just learning from it, fixing it. After the season, I was just worried about getting healthy, building my strength back to where I knew it needed to be and coming into [spring practices] ready to go, trying to do everything I can to put myself in the best position possible to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Patriots\u2019 loss to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in Super Bowl LX, and perhaps even before that, there hasn\u2019t been a more scrutinized New England player than Campbell, the No. 4 pick in the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n

Some wondered if the Patriots would consider moving him to guard, especially after selecting Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu<\/a> in the first round (No. 28 selection). But Campbell has remained a fixture as quarterback Drake Maye<\/a>\u2019s blindside protector through 20 training camp practices as he\u2019s fully recovered from tearing a ligament in his right knee in late November.<\/p>\n

A key part of his preparation for the 2026 season was spending a week with Johnson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs<\/a>, Buffalo Bills<\/a> offensive tackle Dion Dawkins<\/a> and Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> center Creed Humphrey<\/a>. They were joined by a former Navy SEAL, a former champion in the \u201cWorld\u2019s Strongest Man\u201d competition and celebrity chef Robert Irvine (a close confidant of Johnson).<\/p>\n

In 2025, Dawkins (95.9%) and Wirfs (95.5%) were the top- and third-ranked tackles, respectively, in pass block win rate. Humphrey led all centers in the metric (98.5%).<\/p>\n

\u201c[Lane] reached out to me about coming out there; I was super grateful to be able to be around him, Tristan and Dion — those guys were all super nice to me and welcoming,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve played a lot of football at a high level. Lane and Tristan have both won Super Bowls, so they have everything a young, aspiring tackle in this league wants by the time they\u2019re that age. It was not only being able to hang out, but seeing how they work, and just to get in there and compete and soak up anything I can from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Johnson has taken the 22-year-old Campbell under his wing. Campbell also attended Johnson\u2019s \u201cOL Masterminds Summit\u201d in the offseason, while working out in Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill kind of reminds me of myself in a way — country kid, drafted first round, so I know the kind of pressures that are on guys like that. I thought he had a really good rookie season,\u201d Johnson said following Patriots-Eagles practices. \u201cYou can see him getting better. I was watching him [Wednesday]; he looks thicker and bigger. He\u2019s healed up from his knee injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Campbell, it all comes back to Johnson\u2019s advice to honestly assess his body of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this game, if you\u2019re not honest with yourself, you won\u2019t make it long. Because there\u2019s always room for corrections, no matter who you are. There\u2019s always room to get better and grow,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very hard to be honest at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Maye\u2019s preseason: Will Maye play in the preseason finale Thursday in Cleveland?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one hot-button question after the quarterback didn\u2019t play in each of the Patriots\u2019 first two preseason games. Coach Mike Vrabel said practices with the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> and Eagles gave Maye ideal work while also creating situations that couldn\u2019t be guaranteed in a preseason game.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the idea that Maye could benefit from feeling game speed — when defensive players can finish the play with a tackle unlike practice — has merit with the regular-season opener at Seattle fast approaching on Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think we have a very deep team, so I think we have to make sure that we are preparing our football team and that we are doing everything that we can to keep our best players available,\u201d Vrabel said late Saturday when asked about Maye & Co. playing in the preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that is what we will do. I have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that is something that I am confident in with where we are set up currently.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Gonzo update: In a halftime interview during the Patriots\u2019 preseason game against the Eagles, Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf was asked where things stand with cornerback Christian Gonzalez<\/a> on a potential contract extension. Gonzalez hasn\u2019t practiced since Aug. 10 when he landed hard in the end zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach side is trying to do what\u2019s right for them,\u201d Wolf told Devin and Jason McCourty. \u201cChristian is a tremendous player that we\u2019ve been on record multiple times saying we want him to be here, and that hasn\u2019t changed. We\u2019re going to continue working with his representation to try to get something done.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. OL injuries mount: The preseason hasn\u2019t been kind to the Patriots\u2019 offensive line depth.<\/p>\n

In Saturday night\u2019s game against the Eagles, third- or fourth-string offensive tackle Marcus Bryant<\/a> sustained a left ankle injury in the first quarter and was quickly ruled out, highlighting the importance of Lomu\u2019s development (the rookie struggled on a couple stunts in the game). This came a week after top backup center\/guards Ben Brown<\/a> and Andrew Rupcich<\/a> were knocked out of the opener with injuries that are expected to sideline them for multiple weeks.<\/p>\n

5. Kendall\u2019s take: Longtime former NFL offensive lineman Pete Kendall (1996 to 2008) of Boston College watched Patriots-Eagles practices last week since his son, Drew, is a backup in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest takeaway is that both fanbases have good reason to be excited for the season,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other takeaway is how productive those two days were. Very professional. Very little of the extracurriculars, and it looked like both sides got a lot of good work in. And another good thing is we didn\u2019t see a cart come out as it didn\u2019t look like there were any significant injuries. I think both teams will be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. McDaniels\u2019 insight: Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels hit on two timely topics in his interview on sports radio WEEI on Friday.<\/p>\n

7. Van Roten intel: When the Patriots signed center\/guard Greg Van Roten<\/a> last week to serve as their top interior backup with Ben Brown<\/a> sidelined indefinitely due to injury, they increased the age of their roster. Van Roten, 36, is now the team\u2019s oldest player, but coaches who have studied him believe he has played some of the best football of his 12-year career in recent seasons. He\u2019s considered a stronger pass protector than run blocker.<\/p>\n

8. Farmer\u2019s offseason: Defensive tackle Joshua Farmer<\/a>, the 2025 fourth-round pick from Florida State who missed the final six games last season on injured reserve (hamstring), said he spent the entire offseason in New England instead of returning home to Florida. He worked year-round with Patriots director of sports performance Frank Piraino.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the decision to stay up here, wanted to take advantage of it,\u201d Farmer said. \u201cI think it helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another developmental step for Farmer (6-foot-3, 312 pounds), who projects as a top backup to Milton Williams<\/a>, Christian Barmore<\/a> and Cory Durden<\/a>, could help the Patriots alleviate the free agent departure of Khyiris Tonga<\/a> (Chiefs).<\/p>\n

9. They said it: \u201cThat\u2019s why you pick teams like this to go against. Can\u2019t say enough about coach Vrabel and the Patriots and how good that [first] practice was.\u201d — Eagles coach Nick Sirianni on practicing with New England<\/p>\n

10. Did You Know: The Patriots\u2019 game against the Eagles was their first home preseason contest played on a Saturday since doing so against the Cardinals on Aug. 19, 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL: 1. Campbell\u2019s truth: To…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,161226,514,82,301684],"class_list":["post-868648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-new-england-patriots-sports-football-team-team-statscom-348","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-will-campbell-sports-football-player-player-statscom-1381294"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}