Doug Marrone addresses biggest questions facing top tackles in 2025 NFL Draft
New England Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone discussed the concerns about the top two tackles in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Offensive tackle – in particular left tackle – remains the most glaring hole for the New England Patriots at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft. Last week when asked how the team will weigh drafting for need versus taking the best player available with the fourth overall pick, head coach Mike Vrabel replied “Hopefully, those two things can come together and align when you’re drafting.”
There is a real chance that once the Patriots are on the clock, the ‘best player available’ will be a left tackle. If Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter both go in the top three picks, the next group of players are widely considered to be about equal in overall grade. That group includes LSU tackle Will Campbell and Missouri tackle Armand Membou.
However, neither player comes without question. For Campbell it’s his build – his 33-inch arm measurement is just at the bottom threshold typically used for the tackle position. For Membou, he’s only played right tackle in his career and examples of full-time college right tackles moving to the left side in the NFL successfully are rare (Tristan Wirfs is the only player who has done so successfully in the last 10 years).
Speaking with Patriots reporters on Thursday, new offensive line coach Doug Marrone shared his thoughts on both players, and didn’t seem particularly bothered by the challenges posed by either. That started off with him talking about Campbell, and his views on arm length as an evaluation point as a whole.
“Having done it, you create these measurements or parameters and you just look at them and you say, ‘listen, these are what we have, these are kind of standard, these are the kind of things you have to look at,'” he explained. “I’ve always looked at it as something that – do you play that way or do you play longer? You play to the max of what you have or you play under what you have. I’ve had guys in the past that have played for me that have 33, 34 [inch arms] and haven’t played like that. I’ve had some guys that had some shorter arms and played like they had longer arms.”
“So I just think it’s something that you bring up that you just want to make sure that you evaluate and see if it affects the player in a positive way or a negative way,” he added.
When it comes to Campbell, he doesn’t see a lack of length impacting his ability. “He’s been obviously productive,” Marrone replied when asked directly about Campbell. “I’ve not noticed it being an issue for him at the level that he’s at right now.”
As for Membou, Marrone shared that he’s had success moving a right tackle to the left side before.
“I do have experience. My first year in New Orleans [as OL coach and OC] in 2006, we took Jammal Brown, who was a Pro Bowler right tackle – and we were like, ‘what are we gonna do?’ Things of that nature,” Marrone recalled. “Coach [Sean] Payton and I sat down, saying ‘hey, we’re gonna move him over.’ He’s never played with the left side. He was a first round pick from Oklahoma. [We] sat down with Jammal, said, hey listen, we want to try this. I think we can do this, if things don’t work out, we’ll put you back to where you went. And then he went from [Pro Bowl] right tackle in 2005 to All-Pro left tackle in 2006.”
“I was part of that, it’s just pretty cool. It wasn’t me though, I didn’t do it, the guy was very talented,” Marrone added. “So it wasn’t like, I’m this great coach that all of a sudden switched him over there and we’re able to do it. The kid, he had a ton of talent, but he did it.” Brown stayed at left tackle until 2010, when he was traded to Washington and flipped back over to the right side.
As Marrone helps the Patriots get ready to answer important questions about Campbell, Membou, and the rest of the tackles in this draft, he does so with more experience in the average coach. As he pointed out on Thursday, he’s been studying a lot of these players since they were in high school.
“After Jacksonville [where Marrone was the head coach until 2020] I went to Alabama for a year [where he was the offensive line coach]. And what’s interesting is that during that recruitment process – Will Campbell was person that we recruited. [Kelvin] Banks [tackle from Texas] was a person that we recruited, Josh Conerly [tackle from Oregon], Emery Jones [tackle from LSU], Tyler Booker [guard from Alabama].”
While Marrone didn’t mention him, Membou was also in that recruiting class as an interior offensive lineman. However he did not receive an offer from Alabama according to 247Sports.
Marrone’s comments about Campbell and Membou come just a few days after Vrabel spoke highly of both players at the NFL Owners Meetings. If the Patriots do end up targeting a tackle with the fourth overall pick in the draft, it seems like they’d be comfortable with multiple options at the position.
