Will Campbell has a lot of pressure to face during his second season as the New England Patriots' starting left tackle.
Many thought he wasn't capable of being a starting tackle at the NFL level due to his short arms, and his horrendous play in the Super Bowl (allowed 14 pressures and one sack against the Seattle Seahawks, allowed 29 total pressures across the playoffs) didn't do him any favors. There's even still this idea that he is going to just be a guard for New England moving forward, especially after the team drafted tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round this year.
But everybody seems to be forgetting/ignoring two things about Campbell: 1) he was incredible before he suffered a torn MCL in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals (outside of directly giving up two of Myles Garrett's five sacks in Week 8, but that shouldn't really count since it's Myles Garrett), and 2) he's only 22 years old.
I know patience and understanding aren't very common traits among Boston sports fans, but it's important to remember that Campbell has only played one season in the NFL. And for the most part, he lived up to the pre-draft hype. He's only going to get better from here. Hopefully for him and the team, he proves that next season.
The Patriots need Will Campbell to be on his A-game next season
There's a reason there's so much talk about whether Campbell is truly an NFL-level left tackle or not: it's the most important position on the offensive line (unless your quarterback is Tua Tagovailoa, Michael Penix Jr., or Dillon Gabriel -- in which case, yikes). The left tackle is there to protect the quarterback's blindside and let them do their work.
For a young star quarterback like Drake Maye, it's not going to do him or the Patriots much good if he's getting sacked or hurried every other play. And given that he only has two years of NFL football under his belt, he's still at the point where this could do a ton of damage for the long term.
So, no pressure, of course, but Campbell is pretty important to New England's success for this exact reason. Fortunately, there are more reasons to believe the player we saw before his knee injury is the true version of him, largely because of the sample size.
With the Patriots looking to build on last season's Super Bowl run, they're going to need everybody to turn it up another level in their development. And hopefully for them, Campbell takes that next step everybody is hoping he can.
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