Patriots Have Plan to Stop Raiders' Maxx Crosby

"Well, it’s going to be with all of them, and then Maxx can line up wherever he wants, or they can put him wherever they want," Vrabel told WEEI on Tuesday. "So I think it has to be for everybody blocking him. He has a certain play style. I think if you drop your head, he’s going to jump around. And if you’re over-aggressive, he’s going to try to make you miss. I think just a certain play style of just making sure we’re not overextended to where, and again, he has a very unique play style where he’ll jab and jump around, and he uses his length and athleticism as opposed to, let’s say, maybe more of a power player. Not that he can’t do that, but again, he makes his money with instinctiveness and jumping under. If you overreach him, he’s coming under, and he’s getting in the backfield."

The Patriots head man is confident in Campbell, who told reporters following the draft that he knocked Vrabel to the ground during one his pre-draft meetings. He just reiterates to the rookie that he needs to be patient.

"It’s just making sure … you can’t sit there and wait," Vrabel said, "In the run game, you have to go get on them, but you have to make sure that you’re not out of control and that your head’s up and your eyes are up and that you’re able to redirect and again not be overly aggressive when you’re trying to block players like that. Again, it’ll change based on who the player is and who you’re going against, but that would be Maxx’s skillset."

Last season's tackles, Demontrey Jacobs and Vederian Lowe, struggled against defensive ends consistently. The constant pressure off the edge forced then-rookie quarterback Drake Maye to hold the ball and try and extend plays. That's part of the reason the Patriots felt comfortable using their first round pick on Campbell one month after giving Moses a three-year contract worth $24 million.