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The New England Patriots invested heavily in their offensive line this season, including drafting Will Campbell with their number four overall pick last year. Campbell was brought in to help the Patriots provide more time for rising quarterback Drake Maye to make things happen in the pocket, a luxury he didn’t have the majority of time in his rookie season.
Recently, Campbell faced off against Vikings Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard during the joint practices between the two teams.
After practice on Monday, Campbell spoke on what that experience was like.
“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, per Mark Daniels of MassLive. “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. That’s a damn good football player.”
Campbell posted a record of 2-1-1 against Greenard in 1v1 drills between the two teams, but did allow four sacks in the full team drills, per Daniels.
The Patriots’ offensive line was arguably the team’s biggest weak link in the 2024 season. In fact, for a time, some fans were wondering whether it would even be worth it to trot Maye out onto the field considering the beating he would almost assuredly take as a result of that unit.
While some of that did come to fruition, the Patriots saw some of the flashes of stardom in Maye that allowed him to become the number three overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
While he will still be playing behind likely multiple rookies on the offensive line this year, the Patriots are hoping that added experience, along with the hire of new head coach Mike Vrabel, will be enough to allow Maye and the team’s offense to flourish this year.
The Patriots have one more preseason game to tune up before the regular season begins on September 7 at home against the Las Vegas Raiders.
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