Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots COMMIT To Will Campbell In NFL Draft!

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

The New England Patriots and Mike Vrabel chose Will Campbell with the fourth pick in the NFL Draft. We discuss the polarizing pick.Also, the Patriots seemingly have made Drake Maye a happy quarterback and was it a mistake to not be more aggressive in the latter part of the first round?Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid=YouTubeLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriotsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

The Pats Get Their Guy at number four. That's where we start on this episode of Locked On Patriots. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Patriots fans? I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, your New England Patriots expert host of the Everything Pads podcast, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles and also a sports talk show host veteran. On today's episode, the Patriots offseason has been exactly what it should have been to this point, and the Pats decide to be a little bit conservative

later on in round one. But first, Will Campbell is officially in the house. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. The Lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And this episode is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster.

Post your job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash locked on NFL terms and conditions apply. The Patriots got tired of leaving the left tackle position to chance. They just got tired of it. How many times have we walked into an off season over the past several years wondering who the left tackle was going to be? Could we actually depend on that left tackle? The Trent Brown years, the Darien Lowe last season, Isaiah Nguyen when you go back to 2018, all these different types of left tackles and different names and personalities,

and I would even say levels of play. The Patriots just have not been able to find that consistent answer. And they got tired of leaving that position to chance. They got tired of taking it for granted. They needed a left tackle. They did not overthink the process and they drafted Will Campbell fourth

overall. Not a surprise. The last couple of months, Will Campbell has been linked to the Patriots. Well, now it's official. And if Will Campbell proves to be a left tackle, and let me say this, I know a lot of attention has been paid to the arm length of Will Campbell. I know there are a number of people who feel like Campbell is going to be a guard inevitably at the NFL level. What I can tell you is the majority of pundits, experts, analysts, they believe that Campbell is going to be a left tackle. Lewis Riddick, Booger McFarland, Mel Kuyper,

Dane Bruglerler Daniel Jeremiah field Yates I can keep going on and on giving you more names there are many more many more analysts pundits draft experts who see Campbell's position as a left tackle in the NFL then See his position as a guard in the NFL. If those pundits are right and Will Campbell proves to be a left tackle in the NFL for the Pats, this pick is a home run. It's an absolute slam dunk. And I'm not saying that because he's going to be an all pro, but if he can

play left tackle for the next decade, this is a home run pick. Because to me, the biggest question about Campbell is the arm length. The biggest question about Campbell, and it's a significant question, is whether or not he can play tackle for the next decade. If he can do that, this guy's pretty clean. 21 years old, just turned 21 in January. His makeup is incredible.

His character is unquestionable. He plays with effort. He plays with finish. Two critical things to Mike Vrabel. His football IQ is outstanding. Reading quotes over the last couple of days where coaches and scouts and executives who talked to Campbell during the pre-draft

process, compare him to being a coach, a coordinator, somebody who knows the game of football inside and out, understands what he needs to do to be successful. He is a leader. There's absolutely no doubt about his leadership. And he's a true alpha. He was asked about his style of play and he said nasty. He's a nasty offensive lineman. Who's got great makeup produced in the SEC. If he can play left tackle, you got a good one. You got a good one and you solved a huge problem,

a problem that you have had a lot of trouble trying to solve. When you look at the draft, the first round, the NFL really told us that they thought there were two. There were two left tackle prospects that should be drafted up high. That's what the NFL told us. And those two left tackles were Campbell and Kelvin Banks.

Campbell and Banks, they go in the top 10. It's clear that the league felt like those two guys were the two best tackles in this draft. I'm talking left tackle. I know you might be watching this or listening to this and saying, Nick, Armand Membu, he went to the Jets at number tackle. I know you might be watching this or listening to this and saying Nick Armand Memboo He went to the Jets at number seven. I understand but Memboo is a right tackle. He's never played on the left side Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal my friend

Wrote earlier today that most people in the NFL do not believe that Memboo would be able to handle the transition from right to left. So I'm talking about left tackles. In this draft, the NFL told us the two guys that played in college on the left side that they felt most comfortable with was Campbell and Banks. Membu right tackle, Josh Connelly from Oregon went 29th towards the end of the first round. Josh Simmons was the last pick in the first round by the Chiefs at 32.

Obviously those guys have questions. Connelly tends to play small, Simmons, his knee injury and surgery, and some of the on field character type stuff. Kansas City felt like they could take a swing. We know that Kansas City has not been bashful about taking swings on guys with some character questions on and off the field. They have a couple of tackles right now that they feel pretty good about so they can take their time with Simmons. They don't have to rush him back to the field. So it's a completely different set of circumstances for the Chiefs with Simmons at 32 than if you're drafting him in the top 10.

So the league told us, the league told us there were two left tackles in this draft that were seen as the guys. Campbell Banks, you had your first shot, you went with Campbell. The reality also, let's not overlook the reality of this situation, the circumstances, the hand that was dealt to the Patriots in this draft. We've talked about the lack of top tier talent. We talked about how the player that's drafted at nine or 10 could easily be the same player at 25, 32, whatever. But when you look at the Patriots, the top options, Travis Hunter, gone. Jacksonville makes a huge trade, jump up to two, trade with Cleveland, draft Hunter. He's gone, not an option.

Abdul Carter drafted by the Giants at three. Giants were not moving out of that spot. So Carter gets drafted at three. There goes your second best option. The two blue chip prospects gone. We have talked about Ashton Genti in the past. I don't think that was an option because of the position value. The next best option was a trade down. That was your next best option. And apparently it wasn't an option. Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald wrote that according to Mike Vrabel, the Patriots never received a single offer for the number four pick.

Not a single offer was put on the table. And Vrabel said quote, at this point, it was pretty quiet. I think we would have entertained anything that anybody offered us, but it was pretty quiet unquote. Vrabel also suggested that most teams aiming to trade up in the draft were hoping to move into the top three picks for Hunter or Carter. So nobody called the Patriots and said, Hey, what do you want for the fourth pick?

Nobody wanted to be super aggressive to move up to four to draft Ashton Gentry, for example. So no Hunter, no Carter, no trade down option. I think the Patriots made the best move that they could make. Now you could argue they could have drafted Kelvin Banks. We'll see if Kelvin Banks ends up being a better pro than Campbell. Campbell's film was better than Banks' film. There are some questions about whether or not Banks is going to be a left tackle in the NFL. Same kinds of questions. He is going to be a left tackle in the NFL.

Same kinds of questions. He might have to move to right tackle or guard. So we'll see who ends up being the better player. But I have no issue. I have no issue with the Patriots drafting Will Campbell at four. I won't sit here and tell you that I love the pick at four, but I also won't sit here and tell you that I hate the pick at four. The Patriots could not leave this first round without a left tackle.

They answered the question that needed to be answered with the guy that they believe in, the pundits believe in, a majority of those pundits believe in, and obviously the coaching staff believes in. So I've got no issue with Will Campbell getting picked for. All right. To this point, the Patriots have understood this off seasons mission. That's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of lockdown Patriots, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. As a small business owner, your work doesn't end when the clock hits five.

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slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. LinkedIn.com L O C K E D O N N FL to post your job for free, terms and conditions apply. Patriots' number one off-season priority was what? It was helping Drake May. If you could help Drake May as much as possible, you succeeded this off season. That was the number one off season priority. Help your young franchise quarterback.

You can't go messing around, putting him in a bad situation. If you ruin Drake May, nothing else matters. If you don't have a solidified franchise QB after picking him third in last year's draft. If you don't make the most of that and you end up ruining the young man on the field, it's a disaster. Because once that goes off the rails, now you're back playing the quarterback game.

And you're stuck in that vicious cycle of never finding the right guy. Maybe not even getting the opportunity to finding the right guy. Maybe not even getting the opportunity to find that right guy. It is very difficult to find a good enough starting quarterback that will help you contend, not just compete, but contend year in and year out. And when you use a top three pick on a quarterback and that top three quarterback shows the flashes

that May showed last year, you have to do everything, everything within your power to help that young quarterback develop. You've got to support that young quarterback. And I'll tell you, the Patriots this off season to this point, after the first round of the draft, the Patriots have understood the mission. They understood their mission. They understood the number one off season priority. Let me count the ways.

Number one, first step, coaching staff. What do you do if you've got a young quarterback, you want to take care of that quarterback, you're making a change at offensive coordinator, what do you do? You go out and you hire one of the best OCs in football and Josh McDaniels. That's not joking around. You go out, you hire McDaniels. McDaniels has done a lot of work around the country during his time off, going to evolve his offense, he tells us. But McDaniel's well respected across the league as one of the best offensive minds. So you go out, you get Josh McDaniel, somebody who's not a flight risk, somebody that can stay tied to the hip of Drake May for the next several years. You get that done.

But you're not done. Because you also go out, you get somebody like Thomas Brown, who was obviously Overqualified for his job as tight ends coach. So you give him the passing game coordinator title So you bring him in well respected offensive mind younger guy from the Sean McVay tree But you're not done You go out and you get a former offensive coordinator and Todd Downing to be your wide receivers coach. Again, completely overqualified. You get the theme?

McDaniels, Brown, Downing, and then your quarterbacks coach, a young up and coming quarterbacks coach, but somebody who just left the Cleveland Browns, somebody who has a good relationship with Alex van Pelt, who happened to be your offensive coordinator last year during Drake May's rookie season. So what is that going to do? I'll tell you what that's going to do.

It's going to allow Drake May to not skip a beat because he's going to be taught the same fundamentals that he was taught last year, consistency. And then if that wasn't enough, you hire not one, not two, but three offensive line coaches. So you can make sure that every single offensive lineman during training camp is getting taken care of. The young guys are being developed. The older guys are being managed. And you get the absolute most out of that offensive line. So you have three offensive line coaches. I don't know how many teams in the league have three offensive line coaches.

Not many, if any. Step one, staff, check. Then you walk into free agency. And I'll mention this at the top. They obviously wanted to go hard after Ronnie Stanley. Ronnie Stanley did not get to free agency. I thought they should have signed a veteran left tackle. That was my wish.

I think they had plenty of options. They decided not to, to be fair to this process as we talk about it. I do think they fell short in free agency at the left tackle spot. They could have found somebody. They had opportunities. Cam Robinson was out there. They didn't want to pay him enough. So they didn't get the left tackle done.

They went hard after Chris Godwin. I don't think it's their fault that Godwin said thanks, but no, thanks But what else did they do? They went hard after Stanley. They went hard after Godwin. They got turned down But they did accomplish a few things That will absolutely help Drake May in 2025 they sign Morgan Moses Drake May in 2025. They signed Morgan Moses. Stud of a leader, still a good football player, mountain of a man, right tackle, solidified, no doubt whatsoever, he is a bona fide starting right tackle in the NFL. You wave goodbye to David Andrews, a tough emotional goodbye for a lot of

fans. Guy was a captain, did a lot of terrific things here. But you cut the cord with Andrews, you go out and you sign Garrett Bradbury. I'm not telling you that Bradbury is awesome, but I am telling you he's an upgrade over Andrews. So you upgrade right tackle, you upgrade center. Doing pretty well. You re-sign Austin Hooper, who was a pretty dependable target for May last year. They have good chemistry. You bring him back. And then you go out and you sign Stefan Diggs, who while he's not a number one anymore, he

is certainly the best wide receiver in your wide receiver room right now. And yes, you've got to hope that he's going to be healthy and he's going to be able to get through it. But you paid him enough money to make him happy to bring him into the program. So you went out, you also signed Mack Hollins, which was a nice veteran piece in the red zone to help you out in critical situations, situational football, which Raible talks about a lot.

So Diggs and Hollins, Hooper, Bradbury, Morgan Moses on the offensive line. So you did some good things in free agency. You could have done better, but you did some good things. You addressed some needs and you brought in support for your young quarterback. The third step is the draft. And you decided to invest your best pick, top five pick, number four overall. You invested that pick into a left tackle. Doing something that this team has not done in a long time, investing that kind of draft

capital in that position. You took care of the problem as soon as you could have. You didn't wanna waste it. As I said at the beginning of this episode, you didn't wanna leave it to chance. You took care of the hemorrhage on the left side of the offensive line. And now your offensive line is Will Campbell.

Left guard is to be determined. We'll see if they draft another offensive lineman. I wouldn't be surprised if they draft two or three more offensive linemen. So we got TBD at left guard, Robinson, So, Strange, one of those three guys right now. Bradbury, Owenu, Morgan Moses. Four of your five offensive line is set. Even if you have to kick Campbell into guard, which I don't think they will, not this year, even if you have to do that, you still have four out of the five figured out. But Campbell's going to get that shot at left tackle as he should.

So Campbell to be determined, Bradbury, Owenu, Moses. Much better than last year what you were walking in with. Much better, even before all the injuries and craziness. Much better, no doubt. And now you go into day two with pick 38, pick 69, and pick 77, you can do some damage. Now you have those picks because you decided to not trade any of those picks to possibly move back up into the first round. And multiple trades were made in the latter stages of the first

round. Patriots didn't get one done. We'll talk about that next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. It is NBA playoff time. We know that Celtics up two zip on the Orlando Magic. FanDuel giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action right now. When you join FanDuel and place your first $5 bet, you'll get $250 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. I mean, I love how FanDuel makes betting so easy, whether it's picking my favorite team,

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Claim the 250 bucks in bonus bets right now. ["Drawing the Line"] One of my favorite scenarios as we went over the possible draft workings was the idea of taking care of your left tackle, which the Patriots obviously did at number four. You take care of the left tackle position and then you trade back into the first round for either a left guard or a wide receiver so you can fill another hole. You can address that other hole with a first round pick. Now we look at this, hindsight, first round's over. And I ask you the question, did the

Patriots miss out on an opportunity to fulfill that great scenario? They took Campbell at four. There's your left tackle. Did they miss an opportunity to trade back into the first round to draft another high caliber player at a spot that would help you. Let's take a look at some of these trades that were made. So the Giants traded the 34th pick, so the second pick in the second 99, and a 2026 third round pick to Houston for Houston's number 25 pick overall. So that was one trade. Giants trade 34, 99, 2026 third for the Texans 25. The Falcons, man oh man, did the Falcons come in heavy. My goodness.

The Falcons traded 46 and 242. So 242, whatever, lottery ticket. Traded 46, 242, and this was the shocking part. The Falcons also traded a 20-26 first round pick to the Rams for pick 26 and 101. Falcons gave up a 2026 first round pick to draft James Pierce at 26. The Eagles and the Chiefs, they wrapped this thing up at pick 31 and 32. The Eagles traded a late round pick so they could swap from 32 to 31 to draft Jihad Campbell out of Alabama. So did the Patriots miss out on a golden opportunity to do some damage late in the first round and pick up another quality player?

round and pick up another quality player. I'm out as far as the three trades I just went over. I'm out of I'm out on those trades. I don't think the Patriots had much of a chance to complete those kinds of trades. Let's first begin with the Atlanta trade. It's bananas to me it's bananas to give up a future first round pick to move back into the draft to select somebody at 26. And I know that Jordan Schultz from Fox Sports tweeted out that he spoke with several people around the league and the reaction to that trade regarding the Falcon side was WTF. Falcons gave up way too much. That's a bananas trade. I'm not doing it. Then you look at the Giants. The Giants were trading back into the first round for a quarterback.

They picked Jackson Dart, which I don't know if it broke the heart of ESPN or made ESPN happy since ESPN could not get enough of Shadrers Sanders tonight? So you look at the Giants trading back into the first round for a quarterback, which means they're going to pay more than what another team is going to be willing to pay. Because when you move back into the first round for a quarterback, you tend to pay more. Just like if you move up in the first round in the top 10 for a quarterback you tend to pay more on the price So the Giants they traded their second round pick they traded a compensatory third round pick and they traded a 2026 third round pick I think that's too much if you're the Patriots you don't want to give up a second round pick a fourth round pick and

a third round pick next year to move up a few slots. I just think that's too much. I would have been willing to give up the second round pick and maybe even the fourth round pick second and a fourth to move up. But that extra third, I think that's a little bit too much. And I think again, it's because of the quarterback position and why the Giants had to pay that much.

Kansas City, I don't even think that's possible. Kansas City was not going to move back to 38. You were not gonna be able to move up into 32 or 31. That swap happened because the Eagles knew they wanted Jahad Campbell. The Chiefs knew the Eagles were not going to draft the offensive lineman that they wanted, which was Josh Simmons, because the Eagles have a fantastic offensive line. So that was an easy decision for Kansas City. You swap with the Eagles, Eagles pick defense, you get your left tackle, and you get a lot

of reticent late in the draft for your troubles. But I don't think Kansas City would have had any interest in moving, you know, down to 38 with the Patriots because they wanted reportedly to come out of the first round with a tackle. And that's exactly what they did by drafting Simmons at 32. Now we could bring up some other opportunities. I don't know. Reportedly, there were eight, nine, 10 teams who were willing to trade their picks in the 20s. But that was before the draft. So as the draft unfolds, we don't know what we don't know. Were some of those teams that were at first willing to trade? Did they kind of back

away from that stance when they started to see certain names fall down the board to them? I don't know. For example, Green Bay ended up drafting Matthew Golden. Green Bay was rumored to want to try to trade out of the first round to move back from that. I think it was 23 pick. So they were picking at 23. And before the draft, the thought was Green Bay could deal that pick, but Matthew Golden falls to them. I don't know if they thought Matthew Golden was going to be there at 23. And when it started to become a reality, do they still want to trade that pick?

Minnesota at 24 reportedly wanted to deal that pick. Did they change their mind with mind with how the board fell? This was an unpredictable first round. I don't know how many people had Tyler Booker, for example, going 12 to Dallas. A lot of guys. I mean, you look at the guys that are left on the board. A lot of guys thought, you know, they'd be first rounders. Will Johnson, I mean, I'm not going to go through all the names,

but there's a number of dudes that thought they'd be first rounders. Will Johnson, I mean, I'm not going to go through all the names, but there's a number of dudes that thought they would be first round picks who are now looking in the second round. So how did the board fall for these teams? Did that change their thought process? You don't know what you don't know. And I'm just, I can't kill the Patriots yet about not moving into the first round Because of the stuff we've already discussed and also I don't know what they're going to do during day two What if the Patriots go out there and just crush day two? Are we going to complain that they didn't move back into round one if we're thrilled with all the picks they make if they pick Jayden Higgins or Jaylen Knoll or whoever at 38,

are we sitting there saying, you know what? It actually worked out for them. They ended up getting three quality players. Maybe they do make a trade. Maybe they trade 69 and 77 to move into the second round and come away with two Really good football players in round two. So we don't know how rounds two and three are going to unfold So I don't have the complete picture I'm not gonna sit here and kill them and say they should have traded back in because we don't know what's going to happen

Day two a lot of different things can happen. A lot of different things. And there's still a lot of talent on the board that's left. So I think it's a, it's a big day two for the Patriots and I'm excited. They got picked 38, 69 and 77. I think they can do some damage. All right. That wraps up this edition of lockdown Patriots.

Let me know your thoughts on today's topics. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio and don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Always love those comments. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the rest of the draft and we will see you on Monday.