Patriots coach Mike Vrabel reaffirms faith in Will Campbell after Super Bowl performance: 'He's our left tackle'

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel defended left tackle Will Campbell after the latter’s poor Super Bowl performance. No changes are on the horizon.

The rookie tackle was a starter all year and considered the cream of the crop in last year’s NFL Draft class. The former LSU star struggled on the biggest stage, though, giving up constant pressure on QB Drake Maye.

Maye ended up not getting any offense going until the fourth quarter and it never seemed like the Patriots ever got back in the game. Still, Vrabel is confident in the young tackle.

“Will is 22 years old,” Vrabel said. “He’s our left tackle. He’ll get better. He’ll get stronger… there’s plays he’d like to have back. We’re not moving Will to guard, center, tight end or anywhere else.”

Veteran right tackle Morgan Moses echoed those comments from his head coach, too. Campbell ended up declining to speak to the media after the loss to the Seahawks.

“I told him I’ve never seen a rookie come in and play the way he played at left tackle,” Moses said. “The sky’s the limit for him, man. He has the opportunity to look back and rest a little bit and get himself back into working out and digest everything that’s happened. But for a rookie to go out there and play left tackle all the way to the Super Bowl and do an amazing job and still have room to grow, he’s the guy.”

Eventually, Campbell apologized for not speaking after the media. It was ultimately an emotional night for the young offensive lineman in a rough loss in Santa Clara.

“The guy in the locker room (was) a young man who has a lot of emotions, who probably doesn’t care what he says,” Campbell said. “When I get emotional, I tend to have no mind, and that’s not the way that I need to approach this thing. I know myself, and if I would have spoken after, I would have said something that I didn’t need to say. So, I slept on it, I watched it. I know what I got to get better at and move on.”

Despite everyone’s vote of confidence, Campbell called the rewatch of the game “terrible” on Tuesday. Going into 2026, there will be expectations for New England to return to the Super Bowl.

“I think you learn a lot just from not even just this game from this season. You understand what it takes to get there,” Campbell said. “Now, I think that’s a big thing, is you got a bunch of young dudes who have seen what it takes and understand how hard it is to get there. I think that’ll be good for us. You just learn that your best football has to be played when it’s needed, and we didn’t do that, and we can’t change it now, but we can learn from it.”