Report: Will Campbell landing with Patriots may depend on whether team gets ‘fair deal’ to trade down

As a consolation prize for a woeful 2024 season that was marred by losing, the New England Patriots are slated to be one of the first teams to pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Thursday. New England owns the No. 4 overall pick, and the assumption around the league reportedly is that the Patriots will use that selection on Louisiana State University offensive tackle Will Campbell.

“But it’s hard to find people around the league who don’t think Campbell is headed to the Patriots,” The Athletic’s Chad Graff wrote. “At this point, any other pick would be shocking (barring Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter falling into their laps).”

That is, if opportunities don’t arise for the Patriots to trade back in the draft. Reportedly, whether or not Campbell lands with the Patriots could hinge on whether the squad gets a “fair deal” to trade back. Right now, that appears unlikely.

“Much of the above rides on the assumption that the Patriots can’t trade back from No. 4,” Graff wrote. “For a fair deal, they’d love to move back. They have a lot of needs, which more draft picks could help address, and this is a draft where, after the first three picks, the next group of 15 or so players is largely interchangeable according to most scouts. So that’s why the Patriots would be interested in moving back: getting a similarly-rated player plus additional bites at the draft apple.

“The problem is that two league sources expressed skepticism that anyone makes the Pats what they’d deem to be a fair offer for the No. 4 pick. So they’ll likely have to stick and pick.”

Campbell is a gifted athlete, particularly for a player at his position. Relative Athletic Score is a metric that provides a number from zero through 10 that measures a player’s athleticism based on predraft work, and Campbell was given a phenomenal score of 9.91. That score has him ranked 15th out of more than 1,500 offensive tackles dating back to the year 1987.

He put together some impressive scores at the NFL Scouting Combine, as he totaled a vertical leap of 32 inches and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.98 seconds.

A player with Campbell’s talent and physical gifts would be a welcome addition to a Patriots offensive line that didn’t do a great job of protecting its signal-callers in the 2024 season. New England allowed 52 sacks last season. Only four squads in the league got sacked more times.

Before he declared for the draft, Campbell spent three seasons playing college football at LSU and was named an All-American in the 2024 campaign.

It remains to be seen whether the Patriots will stay put at the No. 4 overall pick or opt to trade down, but the rationale for New England trading down is certainly there as well. There may be some parity in this draft. One report earlier in the week indicated that some teams around the league believe that there will be no difference in the quality of players drafted at No. 10 and No. 32.