Getty

Patriots OL Will Campbell

Whatever Patriots‘ first-round draft pick Will Campbell is lacking in arm length, he makes up for in attitude. That was clear on draft night, when he said after he was made the No. 4 overall pick that he would “die” to protect quarterback Drake Maye.

That caught Maye’s attention, and he posted on social media, “Love this guy already.”

Campbell responded, “I mean, that’s my quarterback. So, I’m just super excited to continue to build the relationship with him, get to know each other as people. It’s something I’m looking forward to. I’m a quarterback guy. I care about him a lot off the field and on the field. We were able to talk. He met my family, so that was pretty cool. We just talked for a little bit.”

But since then, Campbell has been saying all the right things. We’ve yet to see how that translates onto the field, but he has a heap of Patriots fans rooting for him. And that pile only got bigger in the first episode of the “Forged in Foxborough” documentary.

A clip of Campbell emerged on social media, in which he explained his mindset as a lineman.  “You have to love violence to be able to play on the offense and defensive line … It’s a dog eat dog world. Whenever you’re going out there, it’s either you or him, and I want it to be me every time.”

Will Campbell Got a Full Workout

Campbell was the subject of some trepidation among the New England faithful, who were hoping that the Patriots would land a more exciting young prospect with their No. 4 pick than an offensive line grunt. But there were only two strong-bet thrillers in this draft–Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter–and each went with picks No. 2 and 3.

Which left Campbell, who was knocked before the draft because he only had a arm length of 32 and 5/8 inches, below the size teams generally look for.

The Patriots, despite Campbell’s solid film from 37 games in college, including his All-American season in 2024, had some doubts, too, because they sent a contingent–including coach Mike Vrabel–to Baton Rouge to give Campbell one intense team workout before deciding to draft him.

Said Campbell: “It was just coming out there and giving them everything that they flew down there to get. Showing how intense I was, how coachable I can be and just really having all eyes on what they wanted to see. Whatever they wanted to see, I was willing to do, no matter what it was.”

Patriots Fans Warm Up to Pick

Fans have warmed up to Campbell, starting with his draft night comments on Maye and right through his “violence” quote.

One fan wrote in response to Campbell’s quote, “He’s my type of dawg.. he gets it!! They boy is going to activate beast mode.”

Another poked fun at the arm-length complaints: ”

Another said, “Mike Vrable (sic) could not have designed a more perfect Mike Vrable type player.”

And there was a prediction that Campbell will soon be a captain: “Just go ahead and put the C on his jersey.”

Patriots team OTAs begin on Monday.

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney