Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Will Campbell Silences Doubters in Early Tests | Patriots Vet In Trouble?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Will Campbell is off to a good start. That's where we begin on this episode of Lockdown Patriots You are locked on Patriots your daily New England Patriots podcast part of the Lockdown Podcasts Network your team every day What's up Patriots fans? I am Nick Cattles your host born and raised in New England. Your New England Patriots expert host of the Everything Pats podcast, cohost of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles and also a sports talk show host veteran on today's episode.

Starting point is 00:00:36 One element that the Patriots offense needs to show that it has in its bag and one veterans roster spot is in danger. But first, Will Campbell did his job. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen and for being an everyday or a lockdown Patriots podcast, a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And remember, we're going three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday until we get back to five shows a week on Monday, July 14th. And today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app,

Starting point is 00:01:11 create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Will Campbell 100% passed his first test. He needed to look the part at rookie minicamp, at OTAs, and during mandatory minicamp. And Campbell has passed that test. Evan Lazar from Patriots.com writes the following. Campbell improved with each practice in the spring. He was tough to go against, primarily working against edge rushers Keon weight and Kane Levan Ch Chase on Karen. Garegian wrote this about Campbell.

Starting point is 00:01:48 His footwork is obvious. He held his own against white and chase on. He didn't win every battle, but he never looked overmatched. Of course, he's not going to win every single battle. If Campbell was out there winning every single battle, that would be bad news for white and chase on. You need to see some of your defenders win some of these battles, these one-on-one reps that we see out there, edge versus tackle.

Starting point is 00:02:11 But Will Campbell's number one goal, as soon as he was drafted fourth overall, his number one goal was to grow during each phase, each step. So whether it was rookie minicamp, show some growth. OTAs, show some growth. Mandatory min mini camp, show some growth. OTAs show some growth, mandatory mini camp, show some growth. And if you continue to grow and develop each step of the way, inevitably, you will get to September, as we're ready to play football that really matters. And you will have shown

Starting point is 00:02:41 the team that you are ready to be that guy on day one. Grow with each phase, with each step in the process. The offensive install, learn the offense, understand the offense, be able to work with other guys on your team to make sure the offense is doing what the offense is supposed to do. Create chemistry, find the chemistry between yourself and the quarterback. Try to understand what Drake May is trying to do, why he does it, when he does it. Create that chemistry. Cultivate that chemistry with your fellow offensive linemen. Nothing is more important than offensive line cohesion. Every guy on that offensive line has

Starting point is 00:03:24 to feel like they know each other, they know each other's games, and they understand what everybody is trying to do. Will Campbell's a very important link to this chain, but he has to understand the rest of the chain. And really, make sure that you show that you have a solid grasp of the basics, your technique, what you're supposed to understand at this point of your career, which is just get the fundamentals

Starting point is 00:03:51 down. Maybe eventually you become excellent at what you do. You were excellent at what you do for the most part in the SEC. To get there in the NFL, you have to make sure that you have absolutely dominated the basics of your job. Phases, again. And Greg Bedard, after the first day of mandatory minicamp, wrote this, didn't watch him the entire time, but I did see Campbell show nice technique more than a few times against White. Nice technique,le the basics. Speaking of handling things, it is going to be crucial for Will Campbell to prove that he can handle

Starting point is 00:04:32 speed. And even though he had some issues with speed in the SEC, NFL speed is at an entirely different level. And what we're talking about, rookie mini camp, OTAs, mandatory mini camp, as you know, these guys aren't wearing pads, which helps Will Campbell, but it also helps the edge rushers. Those guys are even faster because they're not being weighed down by the padding. So without pads, could Will Campbell handle NFL speed? When you put the pads on, can he handle handle NFL speed one of the biggest questions about him as We got ready for the draft as we saw the Patriots draft him and ever since the draft Campbell versus speed

Starting point is 00:05:15 Can he do it? Can Campbell handle the inside rush when he was beat in college often it was on the inside and rush when he was beat in college, often it was on the inside. And so can he prove that at the NFL level, he can handle that speed to rush combo and can he make sure he doesn't leave himself open, so to speak on the inside? And Evan Lazar wrote this Campbell shutting down an inside spin move by chase on and Tuesday session was good to see as inside moves were one area. The rookie was working to see as inside moves were one area the rookie was working to improve this off season. Back to Karen Geregian. Campbell never looked over

Starting point is 00:05:51 matched against outside moves or spin moves to the inside. If he got beaten, he worked to get better against that particular move the next time. So not only is Campbell handling the basics and looks very sound technique wise, but now we're hearing that he's handling the speed. He's handling spin moves to the inside. He's not getting beaten often, which is really good news this early. And we look at Campbell's athleticism, his ability to make sure that he can shift to get to that inside if he has to.

Starting point is 00:06:26 We look at his IQ. We've talked a lot about IQ with this draft class and Campbell is right at the top of that. Very, very smart and he's curious. He wants to learn. He asks questions. He wants to get better. Goregian wrote, she loves, she loves how Campbell has embraced

Starting point is 00:06:46 Morgan Moses's offensive line tutorial sessions after workouts. Humility, understanding you don't know at all. Understanding that learning under the Morgan Moses tree, so to speak, is only going to help you get better. That humility is going to help. Your curiosity is going to help you get better. That humility is going to help. Your curiosity is going to help. He's just working on his craft, and he's asking the right questions, I'm sure,

Starting point is 00:07:12 to the right person in Morgan Moses. So first test, Will Campbell, he has passed. He has passed that first test. He doesn't look out of place. He has grown, He has developed. He has improved pretty much every step of the way so far to this point. He has shown that he can handle speed. He can handle the inside rush with some spin moves. The true tests, however, will of course come at camp. When you get to training camp and those pads go on and pass

Starting point is 00:07:42 rushes are not stopping after the first three or four steps in their pass rush and their physicality is brought to the forefront. That's when we'll know when we have the actual one on ones, nobody else helping you. Nobody else next to you just one on one you versus your teammate who gets the best of who and that physicality and those pads the The urgency it will be there in late July in early August And when you line up to practice the defense will throw even more exotic looks at you because they're getting ready for their season So the looks will be different the physicality will be different the urgency be different, and that's just against your own guys.

Starting point is 00:08:26 Then you've got joint practices against Minnesota and Washington, and now you've got to deal with another team and them having different looks and throwing those different looks at you and their defensive lineman being very, very physical against you because joint practices nowadays they mean even more than the preseason games let's be honest. So things will step up and Campbell will have to step up with everybody else and let's not forget legitimate questions at center with Garrett Bradbury can he hold the water this left guard competition will the Patriots settle on

Starting point is 00:09:05 somebody early? Or will Campbell be working with different guys day in and day out lining up next to him? So the tests are gonna continue to come towards Will Campbell and they're gonna get tougher. But so far so good. He doesn't look out of place. He has passed his first test. Now he gets ready for the next one in late July. If the Pats want to be a much better offense, they'll need one element to be part of their attack. That's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:09:44 There is nothing like the NBA playoffs as the NBA finals are coming to a close soon. The intensity, the buzzer beaters, the fans losing their minds. These fourth quarters between the Pacers and Thunder, I mean outrageous kind of atmosphere that you must experience live. And if you're not a Pacers fan or a Thunder fan, then you could experience other things like going to baseball games or even going to football games when everything starts in September. And when you have the matchups that you're going to have this year, the Patriots, you've obviously got Josh Allen coming to town and more fun quarterbacks to watch live in person. Geno Smith, can you get

Starting point is 00:10:21 revenge on him as the Patriots? Check out Game Time. Game Time makes it fast and easy to get seats. Even for the biggest playoff games, prices on the app actually drop closer to tip off or kick off. And with killer last minute deals, panoramic seat views, and no surprise fees, Game Time is a total game changer. You'll find great seats when we talk about NFL tickets for as low as $100 bucks thanks to exclusive discounts.

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Starting point is 00:11:12 everybody knows it. Frankly, you can't be much worse than they were in 24 or 23. They're going to be better and I believe that this roster on that side of the football is better than it was last year. However, it's not whether or not they're going to get better. It's how big of a leap are they going to take? Are they going to go from one of the worst offenses in football to maybe one of the bottom eight offenses in football? Or will they go from one of the worst offenses in football to about middle of the pack? Or maybe even take a leap and go above the middle of the pack? Well, they're not and go above the middle of the pack. Well they're not going to take that leap and they're not going to be above the middle of

Starting point is 00:11:50 the pack if they have a lack of explosives, explosive plays and that hurt them last year. Ben Solak of ESPN wrote about the Patriots lack of explosive throws in 2024. Here's what he wrote. Drake May struggled to generate explosives through the air. He was highly efficient, but 22nd an EPA per drop back and 47th an explosive play rate. I'll say that again. May was 47th in the NFL and explosive play rate. According to Ben Solak, May's longest completion was a 40 yarder.

Starting point is 00:12:28 Ironically, it was his first NFL touchdown pass and his first career start of course to Kashan Budi. We all remember that throw against the Texans. Back to Solak of May's 32 downfield targets last season, 14 went to Kashan Budi who hauled in exactly three of those targets. Not good enough. The next two most frequently targeted were a pair of tight ends, Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper. Neither Henry nor Hooper in their prime were the sort of tight ends who stretched the field on vertical routes. Here is a stat I want you to remember. Nearly three quarters,

Starting point is 00:13:07 according to Ben Solak, nearly three quarters of May's targets, 73.4% were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. That was only behind Tua Tunga-Vaioloa, Russell Wilson, and Gardner Minshew, not great company. The lack of explosives within the offense last year crippled the offense. And we have to see that be different in 2025. We have to see more explosive plays. And that's why Trevion Henderson, Pop Douglas, and Kyle Williams are critical to the operation

Starting point is 00:13:42 because those three guys should bring a certain level of explosiveness to this offense. Diggs if healthy is the best receiver on this team, we all know it, but Diggs is not necessarily going to be an explosive guy downfield. Kendrick Bourne could arguably be the second best wide receiver on this team. Maybe it's pop. there's a battle there. But Kendrick Bourne might not bring you the type of explosiveness that you're looking for from a Henderson or a Williams or even a Douglas.

Starting point is 00:14:15 So those three guys, the two rookies to go along with Pop Douglas, critical to this offense making a leap. And then you go to the offensive coordinator. Can Josh McDaniel's scheme yards after the catch? Can Josh McDaniel's scheme explosive plays? We know he loves his trick plays. We're gonna see a number of those this year for sure. But can they get explosive plays out of this offense

Starting point is 00:14:42 without the trickery or the shenanigans? Maybe the biggest question or the shenanigans. Maybe the biggest question is the offensive line. The reason why Drake May threw 73.4% of his passes last year within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, it's not because Drake May doesn't have an arm. We all know that May has a really good arm. But how do you combat a terrible offensive line? If you're trying to deal with my quarterback doesn't have a ton of time to throw in the

Starting point is 00:15:08 pocket, then you get rid of the football and you get rid of the football fast and you don't have time to allow routes to develop downfield. So a lot of the issue last year was the offensive line not be able to hold their water. And if you're not able to hold up, you gotta get rid of the football or your quarterback's gonna get smoked. And none of us wanna see that. So can the offensive line,

Starting point is 00:15:36 can their pass protection hold up better this year than it did last year? I would think so because last year was so bad. But if their offensive line holds up better, that will allow Josh McDaniels to call certain plays to try to get the football down the field to get those 20-yard gains, 30-yard gains, 50-yard bombs. You need time. And if you don't have those explosives, we see how it impacts an offense. Because what it does without those explosive plays in the playbook, the margin for error

Starting point is 00:16:13 is even slimmer. And you've got to make sure that you sustain drives. It's much more difficult to sustain drives when you're dinking and dunking. It's incredibly difficult to put points up on the board consistently when you have so many plays that you have to run through just to get the ball down in the red zone because your team is incapable of producing a 30 yard gain just like that. When you pick up chunks of yards, it makes it easier offensively. Captain obvious just walked into the room, say hello to him.

Starting point is 00:16:48 But if you're going six yards, seven yards, 10 yards, if your quarterback is throwing almost 75% of his passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, that means you've got to dink and dunk and slowly make your way down the field. You are killing the defense by paper cut. And that's not easy and it puts pressure on your quarterback to be almost perfect because you can't get back the yards quickly which means your quarterback has to be accurate, your quarterback has to make fast decisions and when making those decisions he has to show that decisiveness, find the right guy, get rid of it quickly, and just keep moving the ball.

Starting point is 00:17:29 And so the pressure on May to perform when the offensive line is crumbling in front of him and he doesn't have the luxury of having a play that gets him 30, 40 yards, he doesn't have the luxury of having somebody that can create that kind of explosiveness, that falls on the shoulders of the quarterback. And that impacts him and it limits him. Because again, we know that May has the arm and he's more than capable of creating those kinds of throws down field.

Starting point is 00:17:57 So you're limiting one of the strongest attributes of your quarterback, which is his arm. And when you don't have explosives. And you're running more plays. Guess what that does? That creates more opportunity for the opposing defense to take advantage of your mistakes. It creates more opportunity for turnovers because you have a bunch of plays.

Starting point is 00:18:23 If it, if you got to take 12, 13 plays to get down the field and score a touchdown instead of five or six plays or eight plays, the more plays you have to run, the more risk you have. It only takes one person to screw something up. And it would be a different world if the defense is playing against the Pats this year, had to walk in on Sundays, having to worry about explosives. Even if it's Kyle Williams every once in a while downfield making a play,

Starting point is 00:18:59 it's something the defense has to plan for and they have to prepare for. And last year, the defense didn't even have to really worry about explosives when they faced the Patriots. They weren't worried about getting burned down field at everybody up. They weren't, they weren't concerned. It shrinks the field. If you can beat defenses deep, if you create these explosives, it gives you the

Starting point is 00:19:21 entire football field to work with. But if you're throwing 10 yards within the line of scrimmage every single time, the defense is gonna continue to shrink that field. It's almost like red zone, red zone, red zone, red zone. Eight to 10 yards at a time, if you can get it. So if the Patriots can find ways to unlock explosives, this offense has a chance to make

Starting point is 00:19:46 a bigger leap than we might think. A veterans roster spot is in danger. That's coming up next as we continue with today's episode of Locked On Patriots, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Anthony Jennings, the last two years has been one of the most steady, independent, dependable defensive players for the Patriots, but his 2025 roster spot is absolutely unequivocally in danger if you've been keeping up with what's been written. Karen Garegian writes this about Jennings. During OTAs and mini-camp, Jennings appears to have fallen way down the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:20:33 He's been nowhere near the first unit or the second unit. His precipitous drop is curious to say the least. He doesn't fall into the leader category with most captains from the recent past being shipped out. Based on his usage or lack thereof, Jennings could be a prime cut candidate. Anthony Jennings is in trouble. He could be gone before we get to September. He could absolutely be gone by the time we get to week one. And so we look at what the Patriots have on the edge. We're talking Keon White, we're talking Harold Landry,

Starting point is 00:21:18 we're talking Caleb on Chaison, those three guys. Now we all know what Anthony Jennings does best. Anthony Jennings is his best against the run So inevitably the million dollar question is whether or not white Landry and chase on can hold up against the run if they can hold up against the run Then that makes Jennings a lot less important to this defense But you go back to last year even with Jennings out there defense. But you go back to last year, even with Jennings out there, the Pats run defense was wretched. Evan Lazar wrote last couple weeks, the Patriots run defense was 28th in

Starting point is 00:21:52 DVOA, which was just an absurd drop. Back in 2023, the Patriots were third in football in run defense DVOA. They went from third in 2023 to 28th in 2024. That's such a huge drop. Anthony Jennings was one of the only guys last year that actually could hold up against a run. His pro football focus run gate was 73. That was 24th out of 211 edge defenders. So Jennings was a top 25 run defender at the edge position according to pro football focus last season. Now here's the good news. Ebenezer wrote about Harold Landry and his success against the run game.

Starting point is 00:22:48 When we think about Harold Landry, we think about pass rush guy. It's pretty much what he's been known for. But when Landry signed with the Patriots, Ebene went through this whole shebanga bang of film and looked up what Landry had done and interestingly enough, last season Landry led all Titans linebackers with an 83.1% snap rate. He not only played 83% of the plays, he posted a career best 82.2 run defense grade according to the same pro football focus. So we just mentioned that Jennings had a 73 run defense grade. Landry was much better at 82.2.

Starting point is 00:23:33 As a matter of fact, Harold Landry was the fifth best edge when it came to playing against the run in the NFL last year. Out of 211 edge defenders, Harold Landry finished fifth in run defensive grade. I mean, he was simply terrific against the run last year. He had 26 run stops, according to Lazar, which ranked him sixth among edge defenders. Keon White. Keon White was not necessarily good against the run last year. His pro football focus run defense grade was 55.3 which put him 147th out of 211 edge players. So you've got to get white. You've got to get Landry.

Starting point is 00:24:22 You've got to get chase on you've got to make surery. You've got to get chase on. You've got to make sure that they are consistent against the run. Not only on the edge, however, I mean, we're talking about Jennings and his roster spot being in trouble. So we're mostly focused on the edge. But of course, the interior of your defensive line can also help your run defense and should help your run defense and should help the edges. And when we look at Milton Williams, he does a lot of things well, but against the run, he was awful last year in Philadelphia. He was the 167th ranked interior defensive lineman against the run. So the Patriots have to find ways

Starting point is 00:24:58 to be good against the run this year. And if they move on from Jennings, that would tell us that they feel like they have the answers on the roster. And what it really does tell us that Jennings has fallen down the roster so much during OTAs and mandatory minicamp, it highlights Mike Vrabel and Terrell Williams, their mindset, how they approach the game defensively. Remember back during Vrabel's introductory press conference he talked about wanting to impact the quarterback and let me give you some numbers here that spotlight the idea of

Starting point is 00:25:31 impacting the quarterback. These are the pass rush grades from last season. Milton Williams his pass rush grade was 90.4 He was the second best interior defensive lineman when it came to pass rush. The second best guy in the league. Keon White had a pass rush grade of 76.7. That put him 20th in the league. Christian Barmore, not gonna use his numbers last year, not fair to him given the health situation.

Starting point is 00:26:04 But let's go back to 2023. In 2023, Barmore's pass rush grade from Pro Football Focus was 84.9, which was seventh best in the league. Caleb on chase on pass rush grade last season 74.. That put him 26th in the league. Now, interestingly enough, Landry, his pass rush grade was 49.6, it was terrible. He was 197th when it came to pass rush last year. So we think of Harold Landry being the pass rusher

Starting point is 00:26:38 when in reality last year, he was great against the run and was not good pass rushing. Now you would hope that with Vrabel and Williams back in his life, they will find that mojo again. And if you have Landry getting after the quarterback at a better rate, which I do anticipate him actually doing to go along with that run defense, now you've got something. If you're wondering, Anthony Jennings, his pass rush grade last year was 59.2 which put him 113 but you look at that defensive line Williams second white 20th Barmore in 2023 seventh

Starting point is 00:27:15 chase on 26th in pass rush grade according to Pro Football Focus they got a bunch of guys that can get after the quarterback folks. And that's the mentality of this defense. That's what Mike Vrabel and Williams want. They want this defensive line to be aggressive. They want this defensive line to create big plays. They want this defensive line and this pass rush to make a quarterback's life absolutely freaking miserable. And Anthony Jennings, he's not really known for that. But you can't be one dimensional. You can't just have the pass rush either

Starting point is 00:27:53 with no run defense. And that's going to be pivotal during camp, during the joint practices and the preseason to make sure this defense is good enough against the run. I absolutely believe they'll get after the quarterback because of the numbers that I shared with you, because of the talent that they have up front, because of some things that they will do with the scheme. The simulated pressures we talk about, guys dropping from the line.

Starting point is 00:28:18 They drop back into coverage. All of a sudden you have a linebacker be sent via a blitz. I believe they'll get pressure on the quarterback. But they got to be able to stop the run because you've got to force the opposing offense to think about everything. Man, oh man, we can't run the ball against these guys. They're in our backfield constantly. You put pressure on the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:28:39 You put pressure on the running backs and pass protection. And if you can get after the quarterback and you do a good enough job against the run, your cornerbacks are going to feast. And that's what we want to see. We want to see the secondary being capable when given the opportunity to have impact plays. But Anthony Jennings, his roster spots in trouble. 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. And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to hit that like button, the thumbs up and to subscribe. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second

Starting point is 00:29:20 listen, check out Lockdown NFL Scouting. Hosts Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Locked On NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day and we will see you on Wednesday.

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