Former Patriot David Andrews Believes Lomu Will Push Campbell For Starting Role

[patsfaninpa]

Who had Jermaine Eluemunor still in the NFL and making 3/39m after we let him go?

 

[Zuma]

Who had Jermaine Eluemunor still in the NFL and making 3/39m after we let him go?

Post in thread 'Patriots sign former Buc starting OT Caleb Benenoch'

Sep 18, 2019

If Eluemunor is as good as that, he was great find. We needed a backup OG. Securing one that is a potential starter in 2020 is gravy.

You gave an interesting nickname to Jermaine.

Yeah I think Jermaine and Froholdt have starter potential at G in 2020. I love Thuney but he's going to command top G dollar as been mentioned many times. Of course Cannon is not getting any younger...I hope Cajuste can play a little later this season. We need to know how well he can play T before the next draft.

• Zuma

I was off a bit at the whole Guard thing but they both have been productive at their current positions

 

[captain stone]

I'd guess he makes the 53.

Ahead of Crownover, ass-uming just 2 backup OTs on the 53? I certainly hope not. That would mean that Crownover didn't come close to taking advantage of the very real opportunity he has here. And as a top-125 talent, that would be a damn shame.

Jellybean can hang around the PS for awhile. Far more befitting of his talent.

 

[captain stone]

Who had Jermaine Eluemunor still in the NFL and making 3/39m after we let him go?

Post in thread 'Patriots sign former Buc starting OT Caleb Benenoch'

Sep 18, 2019

If Eluemunor is as good as that, he was great find. We needed a backup OG. Securing one that is a potential starter in 2020 is gravy.

You gave an interesting nickname to Jermaine.

Yeah I think Jermaine and Froholdt have starter potential at G in 2020. I love Thuney but he's going to command top G dollar as been mentioned many times. Of course Cannon is not getting any younger...I hope Cajuste can play a little later this season. We need to know how well he can play T before the next draft.

• Zuma

I was off a bit at the whole Guard thing but they both have been productive at their current positions

After going through the trouble of acquiring him (& Russell Jethroe Bodine & Korey Cunningham), I thought that Bill should've re-signed him for at least the 2021 season. But instead of doing that, the "Genius" traded a 7th-round pick - to the ****ing filthy ****ing KC ****ing Queefs - for Yessir Durant, a pile of garbage so rancid that he makes Jellybean look like Ogden.

 

[Wozzy]

Ahead of Crownover, ass-uming just 2 backup OTs on the 53? I certainly hope not. That would mean that Crownover didn't come close to taking advantage of the very real opportunity he has here. And as a top-125 talent, that would be a damn shame.

Jellybean can hang around the PS for awhile. Far more befitting of his talent.

Bryant is last year’s Crownover, you’re just enamored with the shiny new toy. Marcus has been in a pro system and weight room for a year. We’ll see if he’s been working and getting stronger.

I like Crownover’s tools, but he likely needs some development.

 

[mayoclinic]

Through the regular season, Will Campbell did not grade out too badly:

 

[n1997y]

Or, the team went with the player that Josh McDaniels had coached previously in Munford. The guy who had experience playing multiple O-line positions as well as being the 6th O-lineman/Blocking TE. Areas that Bryant may not have had experience with. And the Pats wanted Bryant to focus on learning the tackle position instead of complicating things.

And Munford was a veteran, while Bryant was a rookie.

 

[mgteich]

Bryant is last year’s Crownover, you’re just enamored with the shiny new toy. Marcus has been in a pro system and weight room for a year. We’ll see if he’s been working and getting stronger.

I like Crownover’s tools, but he likely needs some development.

The team needs to determine whether Bryant or Crownover has the most upside. As they did with Wallace, this player is for the future, not 2026. He doesn't even need to be active.

Lumo will be the backup RT. I suspect that AVT is a better option than either Bryant or Crownover at RT if there is an emergency need during the season at RT.

Give it a couple of months. It will all be sorted out. But, for sure, Bryant has shown value.

 

[Wozzy]

The team needs to determine whether Bryant or Crownover has the most upside. As they did with Wallace, this player is for the future, not 2026. He doesn't even need to be active.

Competition will sort it out, as it always does.

Lumo will be the backup RT.

Lomu will likely be the main backup at any tackle or guard position.

I suspect that AVT is a better option that either Bryant or Crownover at RT if there is an emergency need during the season at RT.

I don’t see it. Marrone showed he likes continuity on his line, he didn’t even like guys swapping sides if he could help it. I suspect one of Bryant or Crownover will make the roster, I’m givng Bryant the edge for now based on experience.

Give it a couple of months. It will all be sorted out. But, for sure, Bryant has shown value.

Agreed.

 

[pazrul72]

Pre draft I had Membou over Campbell just off the eye test I really loved the explosion on Membou's tape versus being like there is a solid technically sound guy who will be a starter somewhere for 10 years on Campbell's. I also started a massive thread on why wingspan is important. Having watched Campbell in the NFL for a year now my opinion hasn't really changed much. Campbell will be somewhere in the 10-15 best tackle discussion every year for the next decade.

He does have limitations based on his upright play style and his frame being narrower then ideal. He has strengths in length, quickness, and smarts that offset a great deal of those limitations. I didn't see him having issues with speed rushers off the edge, he is plenty quick and fast enough for that, what I saw was a susceptibility to inside counter moves and a very surprising to me inability to pick up stunts and blitzes. How much of that was him being a rookie playing next to a struggling rookie backed up by a rookie RB who also struggled in pass protection?

The other surprising to me thing I observed is unlike a lot of rookie tackles giving him help (TE chipping, RB helping on the edge, even in the Superbowl the sack he gave up he HAD his guy until Wilson knocked him off the block) actual made him worse. The myles Garret game everyone gives him so much crap for it was mostly the first half when they had Hunter chipping, once he got him one on one he actually held his own for the most part.

All of that said my bottom line is short of injury to Campbell there is a zero percent chance he is not our starting LT for all of 2026. I do not see the people who think he can be an all pro guard pov at all. Way to tall, plays upright, and isn't a devasting drive blocking menace. I would 100% rather he try to switch sides in 2027 if the staff decides they can do better at LT. I think he would be the exact same above average but not elite player at guard and tackle is way more valuable and hard to find.

Lomu also is just 21 and raw, some would say came out a year too early. If he had stayed in school and had another +starter level season he might have been a top 10 pick, maybe even the number 1 LT on the board next draft. He NEEDS a year to develop get stronger because right now all he is is potential. Hell of an athlete though and by now it's very clear that's the kind of line they want to build. To me it's very clear the Patriots are ok with Campbell-AVT-Wilson-Owenu-Moses for a year to give them the time they need to get the athletic line they want in 2027 when Owenu and Moses will be gone and that starts with two young athletic talented tackles. Which one plays where? I don't care as long as they keep Maye upright and healthy

 

[mayoclinic]

Patriots OT Will Campbell delivers humble reality check to critics

New England Patriots offensive tackle Will Campbell still believes his best is yet to come in the NFL.

patriotswire.usatoday.com

 

[Huckleberry1]

Through the regular season, Will Campbell did not grade out too badly:

I agree. And that's how the vast majority of people here felt before he was injured. The revisionist history that he sucked all season is flat out ********. If someone wants to make an argument I'm fine with that, when they lie to try and create a false narrative it pisses me off.

 

[mayoclinic]

Will Campbell has a legitimate length issue. He's not the first, won't be the last. He compensates for it with athleticism, strength, and smarts. That won't work 100% of the time, but he made it work well enough to dominate in the SEC for 3 years, and to put up a pretty good rookie season prior to getting hurt.

The problem is, it is tough to compensate for your length limitations with athleticism. strength and smarts when you are hopping on one leg and can't plant. Your speed, agility, and power are shot.

 

[captain stone]

Will Campbell has a legitimate length issue. He's not the first, won't be the last...

Correct. But his issue is historically the Worst.

 

[DaBruinz]

Correct. But his issue is historically the Worst.

Incorrect. It's not "historically the worst". It's the "shortest" wingspan of an OT since they started documenting Wingspan in 2013. But, the results until he was injured showed a kid who's wingspan wasn't a glaring issue. Not that facts have EVER mattered to you.

 

[mayoclinic]

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I was a guy who always felt that Matt Light would have excelled at LG, however for the Pats he was MORE valuable as a solid LT than an exceptional LG. That's the thing. All this talk about moving Campbell is simply stupid for THIS year at least. Lomu is coming into the league with a defined role to fill. He is NOT a finished product. He lacks functional strength and experience to excel immediately as an LT or even a RT in his rookie year. He DOES have a chance to excel as the swing T since he has the POTENTIAL to become an outstanding OT in a year or two.

I keep pointing out that rookies make mistakes and have big hurdles to overcome in their first year. Why waste a full year of experience that Campbell accrued only to see similar mistakes be made by the LAST OT taken in the first round, not the first. It would be detrimental for the team to put Lomu at LT this year and move Will to LG (a position he has never played) It Makes NO sense. What do you do with ATV. It is not your best use of your existing talent. You want to revisit NEXT season, be my guest, but for THIS season. Will Campbell should be our LT.

The correct strategy is to give Campbell a full season to see if he has improved his game and gained from his experiences of last season. Rookies do NOT end up being the same players they were as rookies. There IS value in the snaps they took over their first years, and they often improve, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. Don't throw that away on the false whim that Lomu is a better LT than Will Campbell without ever putting on pads as a Patriot.

And to state the obvious flip-side, it's not like we won't see him in action at LT, if he is "getting it" at all. A long season in the trenches will unfortunately often give us a look at multiple guys, even with a standard philosophy of one man, one position. We're apparently going heavy on the idea of improved versatility and interchangeability (if that's a word.) I don't think the idea is to swap people out willy nilly but Vrable has emphasized it from the podium -- it's another way to confront the expected injury bug rather than complain of being snake-bitten if the bug gets us. So we'll likely see some Lomu Emu at LT at some point, and more importantly, he'll get those chances to step in at the LT position. (Everybody shut up when we see him at LT during the preseason... it would take a lot to just steal away the position during the vanilla-D training camp portion of the program.) And of course, I'm also ready to eat my words. We don't know where our coaching staff is on Campbell. For all we know they sit around Foxborough saying, "You know I keep thinking about what that State guy says on patsfans.com. his arms are short."