New England Patriots
He’s also Drake Maye’s top pick for which Patriot would make the best Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Film study can be a grind, especially on Fridays. After the physical workload of weekly practices comes the mental work of reviewing your perfomance as the weekend beckons.
It’s taking stock of what went well, dissecting mistakes, and going over details in hopes of finding the slight edges that can set a team apart during games on Sundays.
Sometimes, a bit of humor can help lighten the mood and keep players engaged. So, when Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had the urge to shake things up and add a few laughs, he knew who to call: Rookie left tackle Will Campbell.
He enlisted Campbell to recap the week in a humorous way, sort of like the “Weekend Update” segment from Saturday Night Live.
“He’s gotten a lot better. I told him he’s going to be really good next year,” Vrabel said. “How’d that come about? That came about because I wanted to add a little spice of life to my Friday meeting and my Friday tape, and so we came up with the weekend update.”
Campbell wasn’t too thrilled about it at first, but he eventually warmed up to the idea and decided to embrace it.
“I wasn’t too excited about it because I got volunteered for it by the head coach and there wasn’t any backing out,” Campbell said. “But, it’s been awesome. I got help from [John Streicher], and Richie, and [Vrabel].”
“On Friday mornings we’d get there a little earlier and sit down in the office and get it going, talk about the weather, add some jokes in there about some of the guys on the team and stuff like that. It’s just been a fun way to add some entertainment to our day on Friday.”
It doesn’t stop with the weekend updates. Defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga, whom the Patriots occasionally use as a short-yardage fullback, said he has enjoyed getting to know the offensive linemen during meetings in part because of Campbell’s ability to make people laugh.
“It’s probably Will,” Tonga said, when asked which Patriots offensive lineman is the funniest. “Will is funny. He’s stupid funny.”
Celtics fans at TD Garden got a sample of Campbell’s humor back in December. When the cameras showed Campbell and his offensive line teammates on the Jumbotron hanging out at a Celtics-Heat game, Campbell smiled as he got out of his chair. He yanked his shirt off, flexed for the crowd, and chugged a beer with enthusiasm.
“Everyone said that I looked like a proud father back there,” center Garrett Bradbury said. “He did a good job. I don’t want to give him too many flowers because I think it went viral enough for him. We’ve got to keep him a little level-headed, but he did a good job, the moment was his and he took advantage of it.”
Vrabel joked that the team might have to consider firing the Patriots’ strength and conditioning coach after seeing how the 6-foot-6-inch, 319-pound Campbell looked shirtless.
Drake Maye was asked which three Patriots players would look the best on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. He didn’t hesitate to pick Campbell.
“Will Campbell has got to be on there,” Maye said, laughing. “Will Campbell is my No. 1 answer.”
Campbell helped stabilize a Patriots offensive line that was one of the worst in football last season. Pro Football Focus said Campbell was arguably the most important addition to New England’s offensive line, saying that he has raised the floor of the unit’s potential with his play.
This season, though, has not been without setbacks. There were growing pains, such as struggles against premier pass-rushers like Myles Garrett and Will Anderson. Campbell also suffered an MCL sprain that landed him on injured reserve for several weeks. He said he didn’t feel quite right until the AFC championship win against Denver.
“I didn’t play for five weeks, and when I did get hurt, I felt like I played pretty good ball. Obviously I was disappointed to get hurt and things like that. I just felt like, you know, last week was the first week I kind of felt like myself back out there kind of moving around. I kind of had everything, my timing, kind of down so I was just excited.”
When he came back from the injury, his teammates welcomed him with open arms. They blasted The Undertaker’s theme music at his locker while he was speaking to reporters while Bradbury and Morgan Moses put on their best sports announcer voices.
“He’s baaaaaack,” Bradbury said.
“Standing at 6-foot-6, 315-pounds from Louisiana State … Will Campbell,” Moses said.
Campbell has a knack for dropping memorable quotes even when he’s being serious. He was the one who said he would “fight and die” for Maye on draft night after the Patriots selected him. Back when he was at LSU, Campbell described how hard it is to achieve excellence as an offensive lineman.
“One thing we live by in the o-line room,” Campbell said. “A d-lineman gets one sack a game for 12 games, and that’s the only thing he can do, he’ll be a top-five pick. You give up one sack a game, for 12 games, you’re going to work at Amazon. Nothing wrong with that, but whenever we’re here, this is what we’re striving for.”
From poking his head into one of Maye’s press conferences just to say the Drake “Drake Maye” Maye nickname to embracing his role with the weekend updates, Campbell has shown that he’s not afraid to go for a laugh.
As long as he feels the material has a chance of entertaining his teammates, that is.
“I like it now,” Campbell said of performing the weekend updates. “[Streicher] has a good mind for that type of stuff, so whenever he has some good material I get excited to read that. But, if it’s bad and I know I’m not going to get any laughs, then no, I don’t look forward to it.”
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