(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

Before Patriots general manager Eliot Wolf dives into the 2026 draft class, he clarified his stance on 2025 first-round pick Will Campbell.

Heavily criticized for his playoff performance and the appearance he was overmatched in Super Bowl LX, the Patriots clarified Campbell was never fully recovered from a knee injury that sapped strength and agility.

'When he came back from that injury, I personally didn't see the same level of lower-body strength you saw before the injury,' Wolf said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 'Before that I think Will played really well all year. The film would attest to that. He probably had three of his four worst games in the playoffs.'

Campbell said a week after the Super Bowl the knee injury that sent him to IR after Week 12 wasn't completely healed when he was activated Week 18. He said he 'obviously wasn't 100 percent' in the postseason.

'I mean, I don't think when you tear a ligament in your knee, it's not going to be how it was before, but I was healthy enough to go,' he said. 'I'm not going to say that it held me back, but yeah, it wasn't the same as it was before, obviously. But I was good.'

Wolf on Tuesday shut down suggestions the Patriots would consider sliding Campbell to guard. Campbell allowed double-digit pass-rush pressures -- a league high for the 2025 season of 14 -- against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl defeat.

'We're not moving him to guard,' Wolf said. 'He really couldn't anchor the same way he did pre-injury. I know everybody talks about the arm length, but he has a set of skills that enable him to play with that arm length. He's really quick out of his sets, he's technically sound ... again, he's 22 years old and we expect some improvement out of him as well.'

Campbell was selected fourth overall in 2025. He was under the 33-inch mark most teams set as a minimum for offensive tackles for arm length -- 32 5/8 inches at the 2025 NFL Combine -- but at LSU's pro day, the measurement came in at 33 inches.

Head coach Mike Vrabel said he's not considering a move at left tackle. Campbell is similar to one of Tom Brady's primary left tackles with the Patriots, former Purdue tight end and tackle Matt Light. His reach was similar -- in the 33-inch range -- and Light worked against Vrabel in practices when both played for New England. They were on the same three Super Bowl-winning teams -- XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX -- with the Patriots.

--Field Level Media