Will Campbell knows what they say about his arm length, and other nuggets from Green Bay and the NFL Draft - The Boston Globe (2025)

Campbell, 21, is the favorite to be drafted by the Patriots at No. 4 on Thursday night. They need a left tackle, and most scouts and draft analysts have Campbell as the top-rated in the draft.

But no matter when Campbell is drafted — if he makes it past the Patriots, he still will likely go within the top 12 picks — it won’t stop the conversation about his arm length, which has dominated his evaluation.

Though Campbell has ideal size at 6 feet 6 inches and 319 pounds, his arms measured 32⅝ inches at the NFL Combine, and his wingspan 77⅜ inches, shorter than the typical NFL benchmarks of 33 inches and 80 inches. Having shorter arms could make it difficult for Campbell to fend off lengthy defensive ends, and his future could be at guard, not left tackle.

Campbell said the knock on his arm length doesn’t bother him because it’s nothing new.

“It’s not exhausting, I’ve heard it since I was 14 years old,” Campbell said. “The school I just went to [LSU], they said the same thing. I didn’t let it become a problem then, and I’m not going to now.”

Some other news and nuggets from media availability with Campbell and other draft prospects:

⋅ Campbell wants to play left tackle but acknowledged that some teams view him as a guard.

“There are teams that want to play me at guard, and I’m fully willing to do that because I’m a team guy first, and I want to win, and I want to win now,” Campbell said. “And if that means playing me at guard, me at ‘X’ receiver, me at tight end, that’s what I’m going to do.”

⋅ Campbell visited with most of the teams picking in the top 10 but opted against visits outside of the top 10. He took an official visit to Foxborough almost immediately after the combine in early March.

“It was awesome how much history in Foxborough and being able to go up there, meet with the staff, meet with the guys,” Campbell said. “Coach [Mike] Vrabel is my kind of guy, all ball, no BS. That’s what I like. It went good, we’ll see what happens.”

Campbell said he and Vrabel locked horns in a private workout, which Vrabel, a former linebacker, has been known to do.

“We got after it a little bit,” Campbell said. “I think he’s a couple workouts away from being able to suit up again.”

Campbell doesn’t know quarterback Drake Maye but has a relationship with Patriots receiver Kayshon Boutte and defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy from LSU.

⋅ Campbell won LSU’s left tackle job in August of his true freshman season and started 38 games over three years, earning consensus All-American honors in 2024.

“Everybody at LSU raves about him,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “The group of players that have just gone right onto the field and been starters from Day 1, have never been replaced, don’t miss practices, that’s a very rare list of players.”

⋅ This year’s draft has five tackles as potential first-round prospects: Campbell, Armand Membou, Kelvin Banks, Josh Simmons, and Josh Conerly. Jeremiah doesn’t expect them to last long.

“I think the tackles are going to fly off the board,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a second tier that excites people. That group of tackles in the second round, you’re not going to want to run out there next year.”

Which means the Patriots pretty much need to take a left tackle at No. 4, given the scarcity of the position.

“I don’t want to be insulting, but they can’t run out there with what they had last year,” Jeremiah said. “The Patriots at left tackle has to be solved. They must fill it and they must do it early.”

⋅ The prospect everyone will be watching on Thursday is Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who has morphed from a certain top-five pick to possibly a second-rounder.

“I don’t know if I can say a range in years past where a guy can be anywhere from 3 to 35, but that’s kind of what it feels like,” Jeremiah said. “There’s people that still think he’s in play at 3 [Giants]. I would be stunned if that happened. But then if he doesn’t go 21 to Pittsburgh, I don’t have a landing spot for him in the first round.”

⋅ Jeremiah doesn’t expect a run of quarterbacks in the late first round or early second, and wouldn’t be surprised if players such as Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough, and Jalen Milroe dropped further.

“There’s not much of a middle class when it comes to quarterbacks,” Jeremiah said. “It’s a little optimistic to think that all of this group of quarterbacks are all going to go in the top 35-40 picks.”

⋅ Colorado’s Travis Hunter, likely to go No. 2 to Cleveland, has asked Roger Goodell to announce him as both a wide receiver and cornerback. When asked if he wants one position listed first, Hunter said, “Don’t care, nope.” The Browns said they intend to use Hunter primarily on offense.

⋅ Milroe is attending the draft but is far from a lock to go in the first round, setting himself up for a potentially awkward night Thursday. But Milroe said attending was a no-brainer.

“It’s a dream of mine,” he said. “This is something I can mention to my family, that your dad or your brother was able to go to the draft. It don’t matter where I’m selected. No matter what I’ve got to prove myself. I just know that team that selects me believes in me, they all in on me.”

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.