Drake Maye was not tasked with starting right away for the New England Patriots after being the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, but once he got his chance, he proved his value. He threw 15 touchdown passes while completing 66.6 percent of his passes. He did that while not getting a lot of protection from his offensive line.
He was sacked on nearly 10 percent of his drop-backs, and pressured almost 20 percent of the time. The remarkable part was that Maye could put up any decent numbers. Just imagine what he will do once he has more offensive weapons around him and an offensive line that gives him time to operate.
Sayre Bedinger of NFL Spin Zone has a good idea how Maye can get some help in the 2025 NFL draft, too. The answer is not Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, though. Bedinger has Hunter going at pick three overall to the New York Giants. Instead, the Patriots will take LSU’s left tackle, Will Campbell.
Mock draft sees Patriots taking a player quarterback Drake Maye will be excited about
Campbell is massive at 6’6″ and 323 pounds, but he is also amazingly athletic for his size. At the NFL combine, he ran a 4.98 40 and had a 32″ vertical jump. Most of his issues appear to be technique instead of skill, so with some proper coaching in the league, his performance should be even smoother.
It’s not that he performed badly in college. He started for three seasons at LSU, and even against fantastic SEC edge rushers, he allowed a total of four sacks, two in 2022 and two in 2024. His quarterback was only hit a total of 13 times as well. So, while pass rushers were able to get pressure on Campbell’s quarterbacks sparingly, they mostly did not touch the quarterback.
Campbell also had a lot of experience in college, which should help him to be able to start immediately for the Patriots. He started for three seasons at LSU, with all but three of his 2,551 snaps coming anywhere other than left tackle.
One facet he needs to improve on is not getting penalized as much. After being flagged six times combined in his first two seasons, he was penalized nine times in 2024. That is the reverse of a trend one would want to see.
Still, if the Patriots do take Campbell, he should be immediately impactful and be able to successfully protect Drake Maye’s blindside for most of the next decade. Maye could use the help. Campbell will do just that.
