On Sunday evening, the New England Patriots' fairytale 2025 season came to an end with an ugly Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara. Although some stat-padding late in the game helped the final score, it was a brutal day for the Patriots' offense, with Drake Maye and company largely shut down on the game's biggest stage.
Maye didn't have much time to operate in the pocket in this game, thanks in large part to the play of rookie offensive lineman Will Campbell, who consistently let the Seattle pass rush get by him, drawing a slew of mockery on social media in the process.
However, recently, Campbell was able to find a silver lining despite the ugly performance.
“I don’t think one performance defines a season. I think I did some good things this year… I’m 22 years old, I have a lot of room for growth in every aspect… I’ll be ready to go when we get back,” said Campbell, per Carlos A. Lopez on X, formerly Twitter.
After the game, there was much talk about whether head coach Mike Vrabel might opt to move Campbell to center next year in order to allow him to play more to his strengths on the offensive line.
On Sunday, the Seahawks were able to get to the quarterback seemingly at will, often even on downs when they didn't bring a blitz.
Of course, Campbell is still just a rookie, and theoretically will only continue to get better as his career progresses. He also wasn't the only young Patriots player to lay an egg on the game's biggest stage, as Maye struggled through one of his worst games as a professional, missing routine throws even on the rare instances when he did have time to operate in the pocket.
In any case, the Patriots have some things to sort out before they take the field for 2026.
