Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Patriots Face Unprecedented O-Line Challenge | Vikings: Tough Task

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

New England Patriots face offensive line challenges as rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson step into crucial roles. Can the Patriots' young O-line withstand the pressure?Host Nick Cattles breaks down the unique situation on the Patriots' offensive line, emphasizing the need for patience. He analyzes the upcoming joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings, highlighting the formidable challenge posed by their fourth-ranked pass rush and Brian Flores' unpredictable defensive schemes. Cattles also dissects the Patriots' wide receiver corps, categorizing players like Demario Douglas and Mack Hollins into "not worried," "potential," and "pessimistic" buckets.Tune in for an in-depth look at the Patriots' offensive strategy and how they might overcome these hurdles in the upcoming season.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!Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.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)

On the precipice of camp's biggest challenge, it's the perfect time to get real about the offensive line situation. That's where we start in this episode of Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day. What's up Patriots fans? I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England. also host of the Everything Pat's podcast, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports talk show host veteran. On today's episode, we'll tell you why you should expect Drake May and this Pat's offense to have a difficult work week. Meanwhile, after three weeks of camp, we split the wide receiver room into three different buckets. But first,

let's have an honest conversation about this O-Line. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listening for being an every day or the lockdown. Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And this episode is brought to by Fandul. Football season is around the corner. Visit the Fandul app today and start planning your future bets right now. You know, during yesterday's episode, I talked about the offensive line showing slivers of improvement, some signs of improvement here and there.

And I've got to be honest with you, I am guilty of this. I think everybody who talks about a football team, writes about a football team, even those who listen to podcasts like this one, or watch podcasts like this one, or read online what's happening with the team, listen to sports talk radio. We all get stuck in the day-to-day minutia, the day-to-day breakdowns. And with the offensive line, because of what happened in 2023 and 2024, because Will Campbell was the fourth, pick overall in this year's draft, there's a lot of noise about the offensive line. And it feels like every single day, we have to come out with our final grade regarding Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, and the O line. It's just nonstop.

It really is nonstop, the day-to-day grind. And I'm part of it. But I want to pull back. I want to pull back during the beginning of this particular episode. and I want to look at the offensive line with perspective and I want to talk about the reality of this O line. But first, Chad Graff of the Athletic wrote the following recently.

Behind the scenes, coaches have expressed a lot of confidence and optimism in what they have on the O line. They've been impressed by what Morgan Moses has brought both on the field and in helping younger players off the field. They've been blown away by how quickly Jared Wilson has grasped the system and they're happy with the positive moments Will Campbell has provided. including a pancake block in the preseason opener. Speaking of Campbell in the preseason opener, by the way,

Pro Football Focus ranked every single solitary first rounder from this year's draft for their first preseason game. And you know who ended up being number one on top? Will Campbell. Pro Football Focus wrote Campbell tops the charts through preseason week one. The Patriots tackle logged the highest PFF. overall grade 85.4 of any first round rookie after the first wave of preseason action. So there's a nice little note for Will Campbell.

Through preseason game number one, pro football focus has him as the highest graded first round rookie. But again, I want to pull back today. And I want to focus on the reality. And the reality of the offensive line situation for the Patriots is that there is a long road ahead. We have to look at this and honestly break it down. And I start with the idea of needing patience. I said this going back a couple of months ago. I don't know if all the fans are going to have the amount of patience they might need about certain things regarding

this program, this football team. And the offensive line begins every conversation when we talk about patience. You not only have one rookie, you have two rookies on the left side of your offensive line with Campbell and Wilson. And I'm not sure that everybody truly appreciates how unique that is. Mike Reese wrote about it at ESPN.com a couple of days ago. According to Elias and ESPN research, the only team, I stress, the only team to open a season with rookies at left tackle and left guard was the 2016 Baltimore Ravens. The only team that has opened a season with rookies at both the left tackle and left guard positions.

And that happened in 2016. What the Patriots are asking from Will Campbell and Jared Wilson has only been asked one other time by an NFL franchise. Think about that. Think about how unique of a situation this is. Now, who was the left tackle and left guard for the Ravens, Ronnie Stanley, who obviously is still there, and Alex Lewis. If you're wondering, Mike Reese writes, the Ravens finished 8 and 8 that year, and Joe

Flacco was sacked 33 times and 16 starts. This is a huge challenge for Campbell and Wilson. This is a major ask. of your two rookie offensive linemen, or at least the two rookie offensive linemen that went in the top 100 because you're also looking at another offensive lineman you drafted much later in the draft, which we'll get to in a couple of minutes. But I just want to make sure that we are appreciating the challenge that we're watching with Campbell and Wilson on the left side of the line. This doesn't happen in the NFL. Teams do not ask their rookies to do what the

Patriots are asking those two rookies to do. And then you also have to think about Wilson moving from center to left guard. Now, yes, he played guard early on, played guard in high school, played guard first couple of years at Georgia. But he started one season, and that was at center. So now he's back to guard and upping a level of football. Not only that, four of the five offensive linemen in 2025 are different than 2024. The only dude that was on this offensive line a year ago was Michael Wenow.

Now, that is a necessary change, necessary turnover, but there is still a challenge. When you have four out of five offensive linemen new, new to each other, it's going to take some time to gel. It's going to take some time to gain that chemistry that you need to see from your front five. And then you also think about the fact that Mike Vrable is managing Morgan Moses, or at least he managed Morgan Moses throughout the first couple of weeks of this camp because of maintenance. So Moses wasn't out there getting all the snaps either. So let's keep this real. It's a very, very difficult uphill climb for this offensive line to get on the same page.

And we're asking two rookies, if you're the Patriots coaching staff, you're asking two rookies to do something that's been done once before in the NFL. Then we look at the backup offensive line, and there are bigger tests with the backup offensive line. Caden Wallace played his entire career at Penn State at right tackle. Elliot Wolf drafted him last year, said he thought that Wallace could play left tackle. Well, Wallace is on the left side, but he's not playing tackle any longer. He's playing guard. New position for him.

Cole Strange has moved from left guard to center and now from center to right guard. A new position for him at right guard. Marcus Bryant is a seventh round draft pick That right now is your back up right tackle And most likely your swing tackle A seventh round pick Fadarian Lowe who wasn't very good last year Massive ups and downs in 2024

Mostly downs Fadarian Lowe just getting back from the PUP Just hitting the field And then you got Ben Brown Not much to say about Ben Brown So that is just talking about the talent itself and how difficult this is to get everybody together. And then you think about the team.

Then you think about the coaching staff. Robert Coogler is the only offensive coach that returns from 2024. You have not one, not two, but three offensive line coaches, which means you're listening to different voices who deliver it, I'm sure, in different types of ways. But they're working on making sure they're together and that the message makes sense and then making sure the message lands with especially these young offensive linemen. You're talking about a new scheme, Josh McDaniels walking in. Now, Michael Wenner was used to it.

Morgan Moses hasn't worked with McDaniels. Campbell hasn't worked in the McDaniels offense. Neither has Jared Wilson. Neither has Garrett Bradbury. So new scheme, three offensive line coaches, a bunch of youth, guys that haven't played alongside each other. Oh, and by the way, your quarterback has played only 10 NFL games from beginning to end. And he himself is learning a new offense.

And he's trying to figure out how to be the voice of a football team. Long road ahead. I know people don't want to hear it. But you've got to be patient. You've got to be patient with this offensive line. there are lots of challenges right now. And you hope that by week five, week six, week seven, they have found that cohesion.

And they're starting to look like an actual starting offensive line one through five. But you've got to be patient. I've got to keep reminding myself for that. It's even more important to have perspective this week. As this offensive line and offense gets ready for a monumental challenge, that's next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. August 26th is officially Fandul Futures Day,

a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. I love football futures, always betting football futures. And for just 24 hours, Fandul is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP eyeing a long shot division winner or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before we, one even kicks off. This, my friends, is your moment. Take a flyer on the MVP race. I mean, is this the year that Patrick Mahomes reclaims his title? Is that Kansas City offense going to be

better than it was a year ago? You could try it. You can bet on my homes. You can crown a champion. In August, I keep looking at the Broncos at plus 2,600. Visit the Fandul app today. Start planning your futures bets right now because Futures Day is one. day and one day only August 26th, Fandul, play your game. Reality is a theme today, and I want to make sure we all have realistic expectations as we get ready for these joint practices in Minnesota. The offense, realistically, is very likely to struggle this week. And I think we all have to be ready for it, prepare yourself to hear people ripping this

offense writing about how bad the offense was. Realistically, it's very likely Drake May and his buddies on that side of the football will struggle. And I'm thinking they're going to struggle even if Ramandre Stevenson and Hunter Henry return to practice after missing practice earlier in the week. This joint practice or two that we're going to see and hear about and read about, I feel like it's going to be closer to the Philadelphia Eagles joint practice last year and not so much the commander's joint practice last week. Why do I think that? Let's begin with veterans. This Minnesota defense, especially the defensive line, has a number of veterans up front. Javon Hargrave, known as one of the best defensive linemen going back a couple of

couple of years ago, might not have had the 2024 he wanted, but still somebody who has been a very impactful player at the NFL level. Jonathan Allen, somebody who impacts games, another big time defensive lineman who can turn any, any interior offensive lineman's day into a nightmare. So you've got Hargrave and Allen on the inside. Minnesota went out, invested money in both those guys because they know and they knew that they had to improve on the interior of the defensive line. So Hargrave and Allen, a big time headache to deal with. Then you look on the outside. You've got Van Ginkle. You've got Ginnard. Those guys aren't easy to deal with either. And when we talk about veteran status, Hargrave, Allen, Van Ginkle, and Grenard,

they have a combined 394 games of NFL experience. And we're talking about a left tackle and a left guard who have about 20 total snaps combined at the NFL level. I mean, that's just a different galaxy. And veterans have tricks. Veterans know how to work rookies. Veterans know how to work an offensive line, still trying to find itself, still trying to figure out what it is, still trying to gain that

chemistry. So a veteran defensive line going against the young pieces of this offensive line on the left side could be a problem. Then you just look at talent because being a veteran is one thing. But being a very, very talented veteran is another. The defensive line just went through the names, it's absolutely freaking loaded for the Vikings, one of the best defensive lines in football from a talent perspective. And you look back at 2024, what's interesting is Minnesota added Hargrave and Allen trying to beef up this D line. But when you look at what the Vikings did last year, they were one of the best pass rushing teams in the entire NFL. ESPN's pass rush win rate, that statistic, that analytic.

Minnesota had the fourth best pass rush win rate as a team. And that's without Hargrave and Allen pushing in the middle, trying to create pressure. Fourth best pass rush win rate in 2024. It might get better than that. Scary thought. Secondary, you've got a number of veterans. You've got Murphy. You've got Akuta.

You've got Harrison Smith. Yeah, Harrison Smith is long in the tooth. Pro football focus would tell you that his best football days are far behind him, but he is still capable of making some big plays. He is still capable of outthinking a quarterback. So you've got some secondary talent that you're going against, and you're also dealing. You know, we talk about Mike Vrable and Terrell Williams loving versatility with their defensive linemen

and loving versatility with their defensive players. Guess what? So does Brian Flores, the D.C. of the Vikings. Ted Nguyen of the athletic wrote this about the Vikings defense about a week ago. So many of Minnesota's non-traditional movements and alignments are hatched in the meeting room. This is how a player like Josh Mattelis, a sixth round pick who barely played defensive snaps before 2023, can progress into a player who can align at take a deep breath, strong safety, free safety, left cornerback, right cornerback, slot cornerback, left inside linebacker, right inside linebacker, middle linebacker, left

outside linebacker, right outside linebacker, right defensive end, and left defensive tackle, I just named 12 different positions on the field. 12 different spots. Josh Mattelis played all of those different positions and spots in one season. Nguyen writes, this is how Van Ginkle, a fifth rounder who began his copy. career at South Dakota and Iowa Western Community College. Shout out to Iowa at Western Community College. Woo-woo. Don't know anybody from there, but shout-out. Can I send to being named a second team all-pro, talent, versatility, experience, and then the cherry on top

to plop on that Sunday, is Brian Flores. Flores is an elite defensive coordinator. I don't use that term lightly. That's not hyperbole. Flores is elite at what he does. One of the very best defensive coordinators in all of football. He will send a bunch of different looks at quarterbacks and the offensive line. He will drive an offense absolutely crazy with playing mind games. He'll drive him up a wall. He'll throw the kitchen sink at you. Back to Ted win of the athletic. He writes, Flores encourages the players to think malleably and speak bluntly. These are the core components of a unit that has gone from 24th in DVOA.

Aaron Schatz's DVOA, a weighted balance system, to second in two seasons. So in two seasons, this Vikings defense went from 24th in DVOA. Flores walks in. They are now second last season in DVOA. a gigantic jump. Nguyen writes the Vikings disguise their plays better than any team in the league. Flores lives in the world of extremes. He can show the offensive look and bring it all-out blitz on one snap,

then drop eight on the next. Garrett Bradbury, of course, played for the Vikings. He talked about their defense this week. He said, quote, I've seen some offenses come in there for joint practice with not a lot of game plan, and it's an absolute disaster because you have to game plan it, and that's what the Patriots try to do. during Monday's practice, try to game plan. It's unique because we're not going to see that every Sunday all year.

But there's little things, wrinkles like, all right, let's have an answer to this. Let's go back to our rules. So it'll be a good test. Bradbury did make a great point and a fair point that Josh McDaniels, he knows Brian Flores. They've been on the same staff. So he at least has some kind of idea what Flores might want to do. But I don't think that's going to be a ton of help.

I mean, we're just talking about all sorts of different looks. Not only were the Vikings' fourth and past rush win rate last year. They were number one in blitz rate. They blitzed 38.9% of the time, Flores, not afraid to send the house. And Drake May in this offense, they have to make sure they don't compound mistakes. You make a mistake, get over it, learn from it, and move forward. Do not compound mistakes. Don't turn a mistake from your offensive line into a fumble like what happened against Washington in that preseason game.

It's a monumental challenge. If the Patriots offense looks average, if it looks average against this defense this week, that's a win. If they look like a competent NFL outfit against this defense against this defensive coordinator, that's a win. You take it and you run with it. We've created three wide receiver buckets heading into the second preseason game. find out which wide receiver ends up in which bucket next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is presented by Yahoo! Fantasy. It's the best time of the year NFL kickoff

almost here, and that means fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo! Yahoo! Fantasy is turning things up with a fantasy football experience like never before. You might be playing Yahoo Fantasy right now. Get your friends involved, whether they're first timers or a veteran making their millionth league, you want them involved and you want to involve Yahoo! Fantasy because they've been at it for 28 years. And to celebrate 28 years of fantasy football greatness, Yahoo! Fantasy, they're dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout August. To kick it off, they just dropped Yahoo Fantasy guillotine leagues, a killer new way to play fantasy football on Yahoo, where the lowest scoring team

gets eliminated each week until there's one team left standing. With the season around the corner, now's the time to get your league together and give this new mode a try. If you're more into the classics, you can still play in head-to-head private leagues or join a public league. Stay tuned for more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy Football Now at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash lockdown NFL. Let's have an interesting wide receiver conversation, shall we? I think it's fascinating that two highly respected journalists who write about the Patriots were asking different questions about this wide receiver core over the last week.

Very, very interesting. Karen Geregian and Andrew Callaghan, two of the most respected journalists. I love both of their work. Karen's been at it for a long time. Andrew crushes it. But they were looking at this wide receiver core in different ways. So that meant I had to look at both of these stories and what each had to write about this wide receiver core. I wanted to create, not one, not two, but three buckets for you.

Three buckets where we can throw receivers into as we get ready for Minnesota this week. Nice time to evaluate the position. Here's what Karen Gereigian wrote. PFF has this crew ranked 31st. With receivers slotted in more favorable spots thanks to Stefan Diggs, they'll make more plays. And with McDaniels calling the shots on offense, they'll be put in better positions to succeed. After digs, Douglas seems poised for a breakout season. As for the receiving group as a whole,

Douglas pumped up the unit, quote, everybody's talented in our room. You see it with everybody getting a chance to show what they can do. We're packed, unquote. Goregian writes, that might be a bit of a reach, but they've made enough plays during camp to start changing the narrative. Meanwhile, Andrew Callahan wrote the following. The receiving corps has a pension for disappearing.

Third round rookie, Kyle Williams. zero catches in team periods the past two days. Stefan Diggs, only two catches. DeMario Douglas, he was the intended target on two past breakups Monday where he couldn't quite pull away. Overall, a disappointing couple days for this position group, starting with Diggs, who has not built on his strong start to camp. So Karen Geregian saying, this wide receiver core might be better than we thought.

Callahan saying, this wide receiver core disappears. You can't bank on him. You can't trust them. So let's break it down in three different buckets. I've got a not worried bucket. I've got a potential bucket and I've got a pessimistic bucket. Let's start with the not worried bucket. Not worried about Stefan Dix.

He's in my not worried bucket. We have to remember that he's coming back from an ACL tear and surgery. And that's not easy. And when you come back, First, it's incredible that he's back. It's incredible that he came back as quickly as he did. But you have to be ready for the ups and downs. Just because Diggs got off to a great start,

I didn't think he was going to have a great camp from beginning to end. I expected kind of, you know, peaks and valleys, the roller coaster from time to time. I expected that. He's also a veteran who knows what he's doing. He's been around the block. He ain't worried about having a slow practice or two during training camp. he's not he's in the not worried bucket i mean look at what's going on with brandon i you

kyle shanahan uh this week said i always see him around week six which means that could be week ten it means it could be week five but that's the area where i start thinking about it which is a long way away i mean the 49ers don't expect brandon iuk to be back until week five week six at the earliest digs was ready first day of training camp so i'm trying to balance the now versus what I would anticipate Diggs looking like in weeks three, four, five. And he's in the not worried bucket. You know who else is in the not worried bucket? Pop Douglas.

Now, Pop has less of a resume than Diggs, obviously. But he has, on balance, had a great camp consistently open, consistently ripping up defenses, whether it was the Patriots defense or the commander's defense. he's been really, really good during this camp. And just because he might have had an off day or two, I'm not going to lose my mind. Because the quarterback also did not have a great couple of days. But you look at Pop, in 2023, he had 49 catches.

He caught almost 50 footballs as a rookie with Mack Jones and Bailey Zappi as his quarterbacks in a disastrous offensive line. And then you look at last year with Jacoby Brissette, then a rookie quarterback, a disastrous O-line, Alex Van Pelt as his offensive coordinator, and Pops still had 66 catches. I'm not doubting him. I'm also not going to doubt Matt Hollins. I know what he is.

He's not a one. He's not a two. He's probably not even a three, but he's fine as a four or five. That's my not worried bucket. Then we get to the potential bucket. I'm excited about some of these guys. Let's start with Kishon Booty. I did not expect to be excited by Kishan Booty.

I did not expect to be sitting here talking about his potential and what he can do in this offense this year. But he has shown obvious growth. He continues to make plays. And again, I'm not going to get wrapped up in one or two practices when somebody has been producing all camp long. And Booty has been doing that. So I've got some excitement about what he can be.

I'm also excited about Kyle Williams. we have to remember he's a rookie he might not have a target one day or he might not have targets one or two days at practice when they're working on red zone and you know the defense is kind of throwing the kitchen sink as I mentioned earlier getting ready for Brian Flores but I look back at the preseason game against Washington in how Kyle Williams consistently won route after route after route and should have had an absolutely ginormous night if it weren't for his quarterbacks being terrible. And I look at his college film and the fact that he gets open at the line of scrimmage, he gets open downfield. So I'm excited about Kyle Williams. Ups and downs of a rookie camp should be expected. I would like to see him get some reps with Drake May this week, and hopefully that happens. Even Jayvon Baker showing potential being more consistent this camp. It's almost every single practice he makes a play.

And yeah, I'll slide Efton Chisham in here too. I got some excitement about Efton Chisholm. On Sunday, Callahan himself posted, Chisholm makes an unbelievable catch, climbing the ladder for a TD and a high arching prayer to the back corner of the end zone in Moss, Marcus Jones. Heck of a play. Karen Geregian wrote about Chisholm after that preseason game against Washington. She wrote, while his best position would be in the slot, we've seen him make plays wherever McDaniels has lined him up. Chisholm has a natural feel for route running again. getting where he needs to go.

Might not be all that tall, 5-10, but he's tall enough, good on his feet, and isn't afraid to get dirty. Mike Vrable praised Chisholm for the physicality he showed both blocking and finishing off plays Friday night. We talked about that on the bonus episode over the weekend. So my potential bucket, Kisham Booty, Kyle Williams, J. Vaughn Baker, Efton Chisholm. Feel better about the first two than I do the last two, but I still think. I still think those guys have shown they can make plays.

and there should be some level of, I don't know, excitement or intrigue. And then my third bucket is the pessimistic bucket, not feeling so great. I felt good about Kendrick Bourne before camp. I don't feel great about Kendrick Bourne anymore. His usage during this camp, he was obviously not part of the top four or five

at the receiving position. That surprised me, but it is what it is. And now he's dealing with an injury. he's going to miss a critical week here against the Vikings. And Jalen Polk, I don't need to dump on him. We know what happened in 2024. He missed OTAs in minicamp. He missed the first week of training camp.

He gets back out there. First preseason game, first touch, he gets hurt. And now he's going to miss the critical week. And don't overlook Josh McDaniels in the scheme, helping this wide receiver core get open as well. But those are my three buckets. The not worried bucket, digs, pop, and Holland. My Potential Bucket, Booty, Williams, Baker, and Chisholm, pessimistic, born and poke. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.

Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe. Thank you for being an everydayer and checking out the Lockdown Patriots podcast. You should also check out Lockdown Betts. Sterling and Rogers have your MLB Locks, Football Futures. Find Lockdown bets on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. Have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow.