Patriots Rookie Has Accomplished Notable Feat This Preseason

Will Campbell has offered plenty of encouraging signs to begin his NFL career.

The New England Patriots rookie followed a strong preseason debut with another impressive showing in Saturday’s 20-12 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Campbell has drawn high marks for those exhibition efforts.

Through two preseason weeks, Campbell is the only offensive tackle to receive a grade of 80 or higher in both pass and run blocking on Pro Football Focus. The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed noted that Campbell’s overall 86.2 grade ranks fourth at the position.

PFF isn’t grading joint practices, but Campbell struggled against steep competition last week. The 21-year-old allowed multiple sacks to Vikings’ Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, who tallied 12 sacks and four forced fumbles last season.

Campbell framed that matchup as a positive learning experience when speaking to reporters Monday, per MassLive’s Mark Daniels.

“I think anytime in practice when you get to go against a guy from a different team that is a double-digit sack guy in the NFL as a rookie, it does nothing but good things for you,” Campbell said. “You don’t take anything like that for granted. Getting to go against a double-digit sack guy every day for two practices, it’s pretty good to go against somebody else other than my teammates.”

Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf shared a similar sentiment about his first-round pick.

“Will’s been solid. He’s getting better every day,” Wolf said. “I thought Greenard got him a couple of times in that second practice against Minnesota, and Greenard is a really good player, so I think that was a really good learning experience for Will to kind of understand in pass sets that he can’t try the same thing each time. We’re excited about what he can do. (His) play style is phenomenal. He’s only getting better each other.”

Campbell could line up against the player picked right before him if he and Abdul Carter play in Thursday’s preseason game between the Patriots and Giants.