Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots NFL Draft Target Will Campbell PRAISED!

Starting point is 00:00:00 A top front office executive makes the argument for drafting Will Campbell. 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 Pats podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:33 co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles and also a sports talk show host veteran. On today's show, a former NFL head coach's surprise offensive line draft rankings, and we target a potential trade partner late in the first round for the Pats. But first, Will Campbell receives a ton of praise in a recent report. We appreciate you joining the show making us your first listen in for being an everyday or the lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud

Starting point is 00:01:01 partner of the Lockdown podcast Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. The Patriots need to come out of the 2025 draft with a young left tackle. You believe it. I believe it. I hope they believe it. That's the plan. They have to come out with a young left tackle. Now the question is whether or not that left tackle is Will Campbell. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN wrote a story today, spoke to a bunch of sources, and it was all about polarizing prospects of this upcoming draft. And wouldn't you know, Will Campbell made the list.

Starting point is 00:01:46 Here's Fowler. Campbell's a consensus top 10 pick with projections that indicate stardom. Quote, he's going to be awesome. All pro caliber guard. And if he's a tackle, he will be better than at least half the tackles in the NFL right off the bat. That's according to a high ranking personnel evaluator with an NFC team. That evaluator also said, quote,

Starting point is 00:02:09 don't overthink it unquote, as far as drafting Campbell. AFC executive said the following, quote, Campbell's measurables was a thing for a while, but I think people have gotten over it unquote. One last quote for you, this from an NFC personnel man, quote, it's a concern that limits his ability in some way talking about the length and he gets beat on the inside edge a little bit, but he knows how to play.

Starting point is 00:02:33 It's not like, oh my gosh, I can't draft him because of arm length unquote. The majority of sources in the majority of analysts that I have read and listened to and watched, they seem to agree that Will Campbell can play left tackle. Now, do I believe that? It doesn't really matter what I believe. I'm not breaking down the minutia of offensive tackle play. Analysts, sources, quote unquote, experts of offensive line play, there have been more

Starting point is 00:03:04 than enough people that have come out and said that Will Campbell can play left tackle. This is not as if. It's some crazy thought. There's also some question with the arm length of course but and the wingspan can't forget about the wingspan but the majority of people that I'm reading and that I'm watching and that I'm I'm actually listening to, they're telling me that they believe Will Campbell can be an NFL tackle. And as that one source said, that personnel evaluator with an NFC team, high ranking,

Starting point is 00:03:35 said if Campbell's a tackle, he will be better than at least half the tackles in the NFL right off the bat, out the gates, out the shoot, Will Campbell would be a better tackle than half the tackles in the game right now. And let's not forget that Campbell should be expected to improve. You walk into the NFL, that's your one focus, that's your one priority. You are now playing football as a professional career and that's the only thing you're doing. Of course, you're getting paid in college now, especially if you are a top 10 prospect. But when you get to the NFL, that's the only thing that you're focusing on.

Starting point is 00:04:18 That's the main priority. And the coaching staff should theoretically be better than the coaching staff you had at the college level. So we should expect Will Campbell, if he's going to be better than half the league at tackle walking into the NFL, that stands to reason that he's going to be better than that towards the tail end of his rookie season, going into his second year, third year. And think about this offensive line coaching staff the Patriots have assembled. You've got Doug Morrone, Jason Hoetaling, Robert Kugler, three very respected guys,

Starting point is 00:04:52 and three guys that have been around the NFL for quite a while, including Morrone, who's been around for, I don't know, 70 years. So you've got the experience and the coaching, and you've got Will Campbell, this guy who you can mold into an even better tackle if he continues to improve. And we know what can get in the way of somebody's improvement. If they have the natural athleticism, which Campbell has, the only thing that can really get in the way, aside from just again, arm length and wingspan, but the premise here is that he can play tackle. Really the only thing that can get in the way is lacking intangibles, not having the work ethic, not wanting to lead the group.

Starting point is 00:05:41 And that's not Campbell. Campbell is a born leader. It's what he did at LSU. Secondly, above average left tackle play in 2025, at the NFL level is rare. And that's what we have to appreciate. We have to acknowledge it. We have to appreciate that. Above average left tackle play is much tougher to come by right now than it was 1015 20 years ago. It's a college football impact college football offensive lines. They don't have

Starting point is 00:06:14 to pass protect for more than like two seconds. And so what you're seeing now is a ton of young guys coming into the league who are not necessarily polished on the offensive line. And that's especially the point when you look at left tackle. It's especially the point when you look at left tackle for a right-handed throwing quarterback because as we know, blind side. I mean, it's tough to find a bona fide left tackle nowadays. It really is. I'm not saying it's impossible. Plenty of teams have done it, but it's really tough to find one of those guys that you can plop right there and say,

Starting point is 00:06:52 that's my left tackle for the next 10 to 15 years. Very difficult to find those guys. It pretty much feels like it's trying to find a quarterback at this point. And it's rare to find somebody who is ready day one, let alone ready week six, week eight, week 10. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City Chiefs had to go to old friend Joe Tooney and put him at left tackle because they went through two or three guys. They went through Wany Norris. They went through Kingsley Suamata Ia, who they drafted in the second round last year. They brought in DJ Humphries from free agency during the season. He popped the hammy immediately. One of the main reasons why they lost the Super Bowl was because they had Joe Tooney at left tackle,

Starting point is 00:07:40 somebody who is not a legitimate left tackle in the NFL. So even the best of the best struggling to find somebody to fill that position. Here's what I just keep thinking about over the last 24 to 36 hours. If you don't draft Will Campbell at four, and I'm not saying you have to, but for the people who are out there and I've been on the record and I will stay saying you have to, but for the people who are out there, and I've been on the record, and I will stay on the record, Hunter or Carter, I pray that one of those guys fall to the Patriots, but I understand it's unlikely at this point from what you read, what you hear, what you see, it's unlikely that those guys will fall to four, okay? If you can't trade back, you're in this

Starting point is 00:08:23 situation and you're sitting there at four, here's my question. If you don't draft Campbell at four, are you guaranteed to find somebody who can play tackle in the draft later on year one, day one? There's no guarantee that you can find somebody later. Now I love the idea of, of drafting somebody else and then being able to trade back into the first round to draft a tackle somewhere in the twenties. And we'll talk about that a little bit later because I actually have a team that I would target, but there's no guarantee. Can you work a trade out? How much is that team asking for harm? How much are you willing to give up? Is the guy that you want to trade back into the first round for, is that guy actually available?

Starting point is 00:09:09 Or does he get drafted before you thought he'd get drafted? Just like quarterback, if you mess around too much, you don't draft your guy, you don't get the bird in the hand, so to speak. It's very difficult to find a way to get somebody else in town. There's no guarantee if you pass up tackle at four, if you pass up Campbell at four, there's no guarantee that you can trade back into the first round and set things up the right way. No guarantee.

Starting point is 00:09:39 A former NFL head coach reveals his shocking O-line rankings. That's next as we continue on with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, Your Team Every Day. There's nothing like the energy of a live game, whether it's catching a last minute Major League Baseball showdown or soaking in the excitement of an NBA matchup. How about that Nick Celtics game the other night, but finding great seats at a great price. That used to be a challenge until I found game time game time makes scoring last minute tickets easier than ever. Prices actually drop as the event gets closer. And

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Starting point is 00:10:56 Download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase Terms apply again. That's code L O C K E D O N N F L for $20 off download game time today. Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. One wish for the Patriots. Got one wish for this Patriots team and this Patriots front office, this Patriots coaching staff, the organization. Stop making bad left tackle decisions.

Starting point is 00:11:31 Just stop. It shouldn't be this tough. And I know I said in the prior segment that it's not easy finding a left tackle. I understand that, but how many times are we going to play this game? It feels like they've been in this spot for way too long, right? They messed around with Trent Brown Backfired eventually they haven't drafted a tackle in the first three rounds

Starting point is 00:11:54 since going back to Isaiah win and Isaiah win did not end up being left tackle as we know he ended up being a guard So how many times are we going to play this game? Last year, you were going to slide Chuksa Korfor over to left tackle. He wasn't happy. He went back to right tackle and then he left football for the rest of the year. Kaden Wallace, you want to attain the idea of pushing him from the right to the left side. That never really fully happened. Of course, he got injured, but even before the injury, it wasn't like Kaden Wallace was getting a ton of reps at left tackle. Stop the making of the bad decisions

Starting point is 00:12:32 for that position, please. That's my wish. Just stop. Maybe Doug Marrone, not sure he needs it, but maybe Doug Marrone or Mike Vable or somebody can actually pull up the podcast football 301 with Nate Tice because Nate had his father, Mike Tyson. And of course, Mike, he was not only a former NFL head coach, he was also an offensive line coach and he had very, very interesting rankings during this episode of that podcast. Here were his offensive tackle rankings. Number one was Josh Connerly out of Oregon. Number two was Josh Simmons if Simmons is healthy. Number three was actually Kelvin Banks from Texas. Number four, Armand Membu. Wait a minute,

Starting point is 00:13:21 Nick. You haven't mentioned somebody. Yeah, I haven't mentioned Will Campbell because Mike Tice had Will Campbell ranked, not first, not second, not third, not fourth, one, two, three, four, fifth. He had Will Campbell ranked fifth in his offensive tackle rankings. Now, of course, this is just one man. It's all subjective.

Starting point is 00:13:44 I appreciate his experience, but he is not the end-all be-all of evaluators. But when you look at that top five from Tice, it's obvious this is a flawed class. Every single one of those five guys I just mentioned have questions, and that is a running theme throughout this draft. Now you're always going to be able to nitpick something about any prospect. It's always something. There's always a scout said this somewhere. Even if you think the prospect is pristine, there's always one person that's gotta say something. But overall, looking at this draft class, there are a lot of questions, and there are more questions

Starting point is 00:14:33 than we usually see when we talk about guys who could go fourth overall. Let's get back to those rankings. So Josh Connerly, number one on Tysa's list, he's raw. He's a raw prospect, and you see some of that stuff, right? He has to mature on the field. Technique, not always great. Then you got Josh Simmons.

Starting point is 00:14:55 There's some talk about him and his, his football character and he's soft. He also tore his patellar tendon last year. It's a significant injury for an offensive lin year. It's a significant injury for an offensive lineman. It's a significant injury for anybody. If I got up off this chair and tore my patellar tendon, I might be out for the next three years from this podcast. Seriously, I'm getting older. The injury questions with Simmons.

Starting point is 00:15:20 Then you've got Banks. He's got size, frame, questions. Some people think he's more a guard than a tackle. We've talked about Will Campbell enough, we know that there's some questions about his length of arm and wingspan and all of that. Arm on Membu is pretty raw when it comes to past protection. And he played his entire college career at right tackle. Can you move him to left tackle? played his entire college career at right tackle. Can you move him to left tackle? So there are legitimate questions about Memboo.

Starting point is 00:15:48 And can he move to the left side? And if not, how good of a right tackle is he going to be? He's got a lot of potential, but it's potential. So this class just overall, we tend to kind of look at Will Campbell in a vacuum because there's been so much talk about him. But overall, you can look at all of these young prospects that are going to be drafted in two weeks, and you will walk away from the draft having significant and legitimate

Starting point is 00:16:18 questions about pretty much every single one of these big dudes up front. And so when you look at this list, the flawed class jumps out. What also comes to mind is that it opens the door. If you believe that it's Connerly and Simmons and Banks and Memboo and Campbell, if you believe that Campbell is fifth on this list like Mike Tice does. If you believe that, then that means there's going to be a lot of room to make a trade back scenario work, right? If you want to trade back in, if Tice is right, this opens the door. I like that. Tice is right. Because three, four of these guys could slide. At least two or three are going to slide. I don't think

Starting point is 00:17:02 you're going to see five offensive tackles drafted in the top 15 this year. I don't foresee that happening. So let's go back to the Athletics Consensus Big Board that we've talked about before. Here are their rankings of those five offensive linemen that Mike Tice ranked. The Consensus Big Board actually says Membu is the top tackle in this class at number six. And again, the consensus big board, it's not a mock draft. It's a gathering of information. And you look at the big boards and the mock drafts and all that stuff, and you compile the list and you put it all together.

Starting point is 00:17:38 And this is the average. So Memboo sixth. Campbell is second as far as tackles at number 11. Then you've got Banks at 18, Simmons at 25, and Connolly at 33. So if the Patriots were willing to gamble, so to speak, on the higher ceiling prospect at four, that wasn't a tackle, and you want to trade back in, you could argue that somebody of quality is going to fall somewhere in the 20s. And maybe Doug Marrone likes one of those guys better than Campbell that we mentioned.

Starting point is 00:18:19 We don't know. We know the Patriots really like Campbell, if not love Campbell. But some of that could be intentional leaking to get teams believing that they're going to draft Campbell at four, right? Maybe they like Conorly as much as Campbell. Maybe they like him more. Maybe they like Simmons. I mean, Mike Vrabel talked to Simmons at the pro day. We all saw that video. We saw the tweet that was sent out saying he spent a lot of time with Simmons at the pro day.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Here's another gamble that I wonder, would the Patriots be willing to gamble on the higher ceiling tackle prospect later in the first round given their history of bad decision making at that position? Is it too much of a gamble? You can look at Connerly and Simmons and Banks and Memboo and say, well, their potential ceiling might end up being slightly higher than Campbell might be. But you could say Campbell, by what I've read and listened to and watched, Campbell seems to be the more safe prospect, even if he doesn't end up at left tackle three years from now. As the source said to Jeremy Fowler, he believes he's an all pro

Starting point is 00:19:31 guard if he has to slide there. So would the Patriots be willing to gamble on the higher ceiling tackle with maybe more questions than Campbell, given their history of the bad decision making on the offensive line and the bad decision making at left tackle. Would they be more prone to go safe? Something to keep in mind. If the Patriots decide to not draft a left tackle at four, and they want to make that move back into the first round, we have the perfect dance partner. That's next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked

Starting point is 00:20:09 On Podcast Network, your team every day. Multiple mock drafts. Multiple mock drafts have the Patriots trading back into the first round after not going with a Will Campbell at number four, and then drafting that tackle that we've been talking about on today's episode later in the first round. And I wonder is that realistic? Can the Patriots actually find somebody to make that deal? Will that team be willing to take what the Patriots are willing to offer? And will that team be in a spot later in the first round that allows the Patriots to pick the

Starting point is 00:20:51 guy that they actually want? It's a lot of questions. Set it in the first segment when we talked about Will Campbell, if you pass on a tackle at number four, there is no guarantee that you can trade back in and find your guy later in round one, there's no guarantee. you can trade back in and find your guy later in round one. There's no guarantee. Certain things have to work out. They have to fall in a certain way for you to feel good about it. But we have the perfect target and that perfect target is the Minnesota Vikings.

Starting point is 00:21:18 They have the 24th pick in the draft. And I think pick number 24 is more realistic than some other options. I'm not really buying into the idea that you can trade into the first round from 38 and get into the top 20. So I'm looking at teams after the 20th pick. I think those teams are the more realistic targets for the Patriots. Minnesota in this draft, you realize they have four picks? Of course not unless you're a Vikings fan. I don't know how many people knew that the Vikings had

Starting point is 00:21:50 four picks before I just mentioned that they have four picks in the entire draft, not four picks in the top 100, not four picks in the first five rounds, four picks in the first six, they have four picks. That's it. Four picks. So obviously, you would have to imagine that they're looking to add to their draft capital. Not only do they have just four picks in this draft, they don't have a second round pick. So they go from 24 in the draft all the way down to 97. It's a gigantic gap. And Patriots fans you know from the Bill Belichick years, Belichick hated those big gaps in between picks. We were

Starting point is 00:22:33 talking about I'm not a math major here. But what is that like 73 spaces in between 73 draft slots from 24 to 97. Do you think the Vikings want to see 70 plus players go off the board from when they draft at 24 to when they draft at 97? No way. No NFL team wants to sit there and watch 70 plus players go flying off the board. At the very least, it'd be boring, but you don't want to do that. It limits their options. It limits their options of who they can draft.

Starting point is 00:23:09 It limits their options of the movement that they might be able to pull off with other trades. I mean, that's just a ginormous gap from 24 to 97, especially when you only have four picks. Like you go 24, 97, and then after 97, you only have two more picks the entire draft weekend. The Vikings are a tremendous target for the Patriots. If they want to wheel and deal and get back into the late first round, the Vikings don't

Starting point is 00:23:34 have any major holes. I mean, you could look at left tackle with Darasaw. You can look at quarterback. They brought in JJ McCarthy in last year's draft. You can certainly look at wide receiver, Justin Jefferson, Addison, they don't have many holes that you would categorize as major holes for a football team. Safety, they might wanna get younger there.

Starting point is 00:23:53 So what would work for both sides? What would work? Alec Lewis of The Athletic wrote about some past deals. He is the Vikings beat rider. So he was looking at, you know, picks around 24, 23. And here's what Lewis wrote. The Cowboys, it doesn't take a lot of research to find this one. The Cowboys actually traded the 24th pick in last year's draft.

Starting point is 00:24:20 So the same pick the Vikings have this year was traded last year by the Cowboys. Dallas dropped five spots to 29 and they picked up an extra third round pick because of it. So they swapped 24 and 29 and picked up a third round pick in last year's draft to move back five spots. Now that's not a great example for the Patriots because Minnesota would be dropping from 24 to 38. Obviously, the drop from 24 to 29 is much easier to swallow than dropping from pick 24 to pick 38. So what would work?

Starting point is 00:25:03 Well, again, I go back to Alec Lewis. Much better example actually comes from the Patriots own history, the Belichick drafts. Here's a great example. And as Lewis writes, it's one of the most interesting trades that were done in recent memory. It happened in 2020. The Patriots parted with number 23 in the first round. They sent a 23rd pick to the Chargers for pick 37 and 71. So it was picked 23 for picks 37 and 71.

Starting point is 00:25:43 That's almost perfect, right? Obviously that the Patriots, they would be looking at pick 24 from the Vikings instead of 23. And the Patriots have pick 38 and pick 69 instead of what the Chargers had 37 and 71. I mean, we're right there. We are right there in the ballpark. 37 and 71. I mean, we're right there. We are right there in the ballpark. So here's the deal. This is what the deal would be. You would trade number 38 and number 69 for number 24. If you go off the history, you look back to 2020, you look at that trade that Belichick pulled off with the chargers, that's the price. That's the price to get back into the first round at 24. You give up 38 and then you give up a third round pick and that would be number 69 based

Starting point is 00:26:30 off of the 37 and 71 that the Chargers traded. Obviously if you go from 69 to 77, it's a bigger drop off and the Vikings might not want that. They will look back at the 2020 deal and say, no, give us 69. If you were able to pull that trade off, you're then left with pick 4, pick 24, and pick 77 instead of 4, 38, 69, and 77. And for me, given the specific circumstances of your roster and what you're trying to accomplish here and what needs to be done. Remember, remember how we started this episode, right? The Patriots need to come out of the 2025 drafts with a young left tackle. Quality over quantity for me, my friends.

Starting point is 00:27:21 If we're talking left tackle, quality over quantity. If I've got to give up 38 and 69 to move up 14 slots, 15 slots to draft a left tackle that I think is the future of that position for this team and finally, finally solidify that spot for my young quarterback, Drake Bay, I'm going with quality over quantity. I don't need that third round pick. I got another third round pick at 77. That's the great part of that Matthew Judon trade. And we're not even sitting here talking about maybe, you know, gathering more picks if you deal down from four.

Starting point is 00:28:04 You could recoup some picks, right? If you trade from four, you know, gathering more picks if you deal down from four. You could recoup some picks, right? If you trade from four and you go down a few slots, you pick up more picks. Little redundant there, pick up picks. But you get the point. And so maybe you can gather those assets from a trade down from four, and then you could easily make that deal with the Vikings and jump into slot number 24. Maybe you pick up an extra third for dropping down from four, and then you have three third round picks, and now trading number 69 in the third round isn't that big of a deal at all. So that's the dance partner. The Minnesota Vikings. That's who I'm looking at. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Tomorrow on the show, the biggest problem with drafting Armand Memboo.

Starting point is 00:28:54 And let me know, 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 that helps us with the old algorithm. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Lockdown NFL Draft with Damian Parson and Keith Sanchez. Now that the season is obviously over, you get the latest draft rankings, rumors and news every day. Find Lockdown NFL Draft on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots NFL Draft Target Will Campbell PRAISED!

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