Will Campbell Became An ‘Easy Pick’ For Mike Vrabel’s Patriots

The projection became the reality for the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Will Campbell was on the board at No. 4 overall. And now, the former LSU offensive tackle is on board as the initial selection of Mike Vrabel’s tenure.

“That’s how the board fell. That’s kind of how we anticipated it going for quite a while, and that’s kind of where we targeted,” the first-year Patriots head coach told reporters during his Thursday night press conference. “We had some conversations to make sure that we were prepared for those situations that we talked about a few weeks ago and prior to the draft that we went through. This was a very, very easy pick for us.”

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After Miami’s Cam Ward went to the Tennessee Titans, Colorado’s Travis Hunter went to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Penn State’s Abdul Carter went to the New York Giants, the war room in Foxborough went to its consensus.

“We love his football character, his play demeanor, his play style, how coachable he is,” Vrabel said of Campbell, a Lombardi Award finalist who wore a No. 7 patch on his Tigers jersey as the most impactful playmaker from the state of Louisiana. “A 21-year-old player that’s started 38 games in the SEC is something that is impressive.”

And consecutively.

The first offensive lineman picked, Campbell’s collegiate career began with Freshman All-American honors in 2022. He went on to serve as a two-time captain for the LSU front, twice earning first-team All-SEC honors and finishing as a consensus first-team All-American and co-recipient of the conference’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as a junior last fall.

The tenure in Baton Rouge spanned 2,548 snaps at left tackle, according to Pro Football Focus, and only four sacks allowed. But the draft process brought questions about whether Campbell would remain on the blindside at the next level.

He will for a team needing an answer at that premium position in front of quarterback Drake Maye.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s where he started,” Vrabel said. “He’s a left tackle. That’s what he’s played. That’s what he’s done. So, 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, something that there’s competition at every position and our players believe that the best players are going to play.”

At 6-foot-6, 319 pounds, Campbell clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.98 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine, including a 10-yard split of 1.76 seconds. A 32-inch vertical and a 9-foot-5 broad jump arrived while at Lucas Oil Stadium. All those marks placed him in rarefied air at the position.

But while there, his arm length measured 32 5/8 inches and his wingspan measured 77 3/8 inches. Those marks placed him in the 21^st percentile and the seventh percentile, respectively, among offensive line prospects in the MockDraftable archives.

The Patriots focused on the body of work.

“Everybody has a play style. Everybody has a skillset,” Vrabel said of Campbell, whose arms measured 33 inches upon a recheck at LSU’s pro day. “And it’s what you do within that skillset and the tricks that you learn in this business and how you play and how you do your job. And so, I think he’s learned a lot of those to play on the left side and pass protect. For a taller player, he sinks his hips in the run game and is able to stay attached in the pass game and widen the pocket and create the width of the pocket and get out on the perimeter.”

Campbell took a “30” visit to Gillette Stadium. It was followed by a workout in Louisiana that included the likes of executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden and Vrabel.

That helped cement New England’s decision at No. 4.

“I’ll just tell you this: When we went down to work him out, he showed up with one purpose, and that was for us to pick him,” Vrabel added. “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.”