For the second NFL Draft in a row, the New England Patriots opted to double-dip at the offensive tackle position. After going with the first-round\/Day 3 pairing of Will Campbell and Marcus Bryant in 2025, they went with Caleb Lomu and Dametrious Crownover this year.<\/p>\n
Obviously, Campbell and Lomu are locks to make the roster this year based on their draft status and significant developmental upside. Bryant and Crownover, on the other hand, will have to spend this summer competing for what might not be more than one available spot on a depth chart also featuring veteran right tackle Morgan Moses.<\/p>\n
In order for the rookie Crownover to win that coveted spot, he will not just have to adapt quickly to playing in the NFL but also show some serious growth in multiple areas. He is looking forward to the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just dominant in the pass game, and just trying to make sure it\u2019s something I hold to a higher standard,\u201d he said shortly after getting drafted by the Patriots. \u201cI\u2019m still developing in the run game and making sure I\u2019m getting better every time I step onto the field to practice it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Improving his run blocking is not the item on Crownover\u2019s to-do list between now and roster cutdowns. He also has to show that he can successfully play on both sides of the line after spending a majority of his time in college as a right tackle.<\/p>\n
In New England, meanwhile, the goal is to develop him into a swing tackle \u2014 something Patriots vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden feels confident in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think Dametrious can contribute on both sides of the tackle position,\u201d Cowden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDametrious is a massive individual. He\u2019s got great length. He really has some pretty natural pass pro ability. I think ideally, with his size, both tackle positions. Inevitably the tackle position, it becomes left and right and your ability to play both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-7, 319-pound Crownover has the physical attributes to play on both sides of the line even though his experience is lacking. During his four-year career at Texas A&M, he played only 22 of 1,886 total offensive snaps at left tackle.<\/p>\n
He does know what is asked of an NFL backup tackle, however, and has prepared accordingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something that I\u2019ve been working on, knowing that when I got to this next level that they\u2019re going to ask me to do,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m 100% at. I would be so confident in my right side, but it\u2019s something I\u2019m still working on and getting there. But definitely something that I\u2019m looking to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second NFL Draft in a row, the New England Patriots opted to double-dip at the offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,52113,727,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":["post-883921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-football","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-england-patriots-first-read","tag-new-england-patriots-draft","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116527265453206068","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883921","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=883921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}