{"id":743730,"date":"2026-02-11T01:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/743730\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T01:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:29:16","slug":"patriots-t-will-campbell-played-through-torn-knee-ligament-during-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/743730\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots T Will Campbell Played Through Torn Knee Ligament During Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poor showings from Patriots left tackle Will Campbell<\/a>\u00a0were a common theme of the team\u2019s run to the Super Bowl. New England\u2019s left tackle was operating at far from full health during that stretch. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During Campbell\u2019s first remarks after New England\u2019s Super Bowl loss, he said (via MassLive\u2019s Mark Daniels<\/a>) he suffered a torn ligament in his knee during the regular season. Campbell had not fully recovered by the time the playoffs began, and the ailment affected him through all four of the team\u2019s postseason games.<\/p>\n

Campbell noted the injury was not an excuse for his poor play, but it does at least partially explain his struggles. The fourth overall pick in last April\u2019s draft was unable to consistently hold up in pass protection during the Patriots\u2019 journey to Super Bowl LX. New England\u2019s offensive line \u2013 which had Campbell as well as fellow rookie Jared Wilson<\/a>\u00a0as a starter at left guard \u2013 was a major talking point leading up to the game. Seattle\u2019s defense was highly successful in pressuring quarterback\u00a0Drake Maye<\/a>, something which led to the Seahawks\u2019 victory<\/a>. Campbell in particular endured a rough outing in the title game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill is 22 years old,\u201d head coach Mike Vrabel said (via Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network<\/a>) when speaking to the media on Tuesday. \u201d He\u2019s our left tackle. He\u2019ll get better. He\u2019ll get stronger\u2026 there\u2019s plays he\u2019d like to have back. We\u2019re not moving Will to guard, center, right end or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading up to the draft, Campbell\u2019s arm length was a source of concern with respect to his ability to remain a left tackle at the NFL level. The LSU product operated on the blindside throughout his rookie season, one which was interrupted by an MCL sprain<\/a>. Campbell returned to left tackle duties upon return, and based on Vrabel\u2019s comments he will again be counted on to serve as an anchor of New England\u2019s offensive line moving forward. A return to full health will be the priority in this case, and Campbell\u2019s ability to improve in Year 2 will be key in determining the Patriots\u2019 success next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poor showings from Patriots left tackle Will Campbell\u00a0were a common theme of the team\u2019s run to the Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[7,249,6,84,351],"class_list":{"0":"post-743730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england-patriots","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-playoffs","12":"tag-will-campbell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}