Legendary Patriots Coach Sees Potential in Will Campbell

Campbell particularly drew the ire of Pats Nation during last weekend’s Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks, allowing the most pressures (14) in a playoff game since 2018. In fact, his 29 pressures allowed this postseason were the most ever recorded in a single postseason by Next Gen Stats.

Yet, prior to suffering an MCL injury in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Campbell had begun to demonstrate solid fundamentals, ranking among the league’s top rookie linemen in protective stats. At times, he looked quite proficient in both pass protection and run blocking. However, he has also seen his share of difficulty when attempting to resist edge pressure.

Nonetheless, Campbell exhibited less mobility since his return, often leading to lost battles against longer and quicker defenders. As a result, Scarnecchia believes that current line coach Doug Marrone, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and the Pats coaches must provide Campbell with an extensive offseason tutorial designed to enhance his fundamentals.

“I would submit, in the first 12 games, there wasn’t really a whole lot of bad things there relative to Will Campbell,” Scarnecchia said. “So what’s the difference here? Did he suddenly get bad? I don’t know. But I know that the quality of players he was going against was really good. You can’t discount that when considering if this is something to be concerned about. Or, is this guy physically a lesser player at this point for whatever reason? …

“That’s an ongoing process with everyone. The one thing (the Patriots) are going to do, if they haven’t already done it, is go back and look at everything and say, ‘Why did we struggle so much here, when it wasn’t apparent earlier?’'’ Scarnecchia said with respect to Campbell’s issues. ”Is it the quality of the player? Is it the loss of technique? Is he injured? All of that is going to be studied ad nauseum.“

On this premise, several pundits had openly speculated as to whether a move inside to guard may be within Campbell’s best interest. However, Campbell’s usage during this season seems to solidify his bid to become the team’s starting left tackle and blindside protector for quarterback Drake Maye for the long haul. Scarnecchia, who coached with the Patriots for 34 years — many of which involved duties directly related to the offensive line — recognizes the value of Cambpell’s talent. Fortunately for the Patriots, Vrabel and his staff appear to share Scarnecchia’s sentiments.

“What I like that’s come out so far is that Mike [Vrabel] is of the mentality we’re not moving him. We’re keeping him (at left tackle) … “[Otherwise] you’re going to be in the same boat you were last year. We gotta go get a left tackle. And now, you got the 31st pick and not the 4th pick,” Scarnecchia said regarding the Patriots' draft position. “So good luck … they don’t fall out of trees these guys."