Will Campbell was up to the challenge against the Patriots’ formidable pass-rush in minicamp

The New England Patriots' pass-rush popped in minicamp, but in his own matchups, rookie Will Campbell gets a passing grade.

Campbell has been the starting left tackle from day-1 of open practices, and based on our observations, he made it through spring workouts with little cause for concern about his performance in the critical role. There are worries about the line as a whole, especially after the Pats' aggressive defensive front dominated team drills on the last day of minicamp on Tuesday.

The bigger concerns, however, are on the interior. Left guard is wide-open, center Garrett Bradbury has never been a great pass-protector (26th in pass-blocking efficiency at 96.5%, via PFF), and Mike Onwenu struggled to block the likes of Christian Barmore and Milton Williams. Campbell came away from minicamp with a cleaner sheet, and it was not an easy assignment for him.

We noted Campbell as matching up against, at a minimum, Barmore, Keion White, Harold Landry, and K'Lavon Chaisson in 11-on-11 drills during spring workouts. From our observations, the only edge rusher that gave him noticeable trouble at times was White, who appears to have added fresh moves to his arsenal. Otherwise, the rookie has looked the part as a starting left tackle, and concerns about his arms and shoulders are only aesthetic to this point.

Campbell has room for improvement in how he handles speed-to-power transitions and outside-to-inside moves, but he has quick feet and sound hand placement, which helps him mirror rushers around the edge, especially if they're predictable. He's also shown an ability to effectively handle combo blocks, such as when he chipped both White and Chaisson to buy time for quarterback Drake Maye during a play in 11's.

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Can Campbell provide serviceable left tackle play for the Patriots? If he does, the gauntlet they've thrown at him will have played a role in that development.

"I've been able to go against all of our guys, Keion, KC [Chaisson], Harold, Milt [Milton Williams], Christian [Barmore], the list, Anfernee [Jennings], all of them. And, you know, it's awesome for all of us, but especially a young player to be able to get that exposure, in a training or an OTA, the guys that have played a lot of football on Sundays.

"And they've been really good to me, giving me bits and pieces in the locker room after practice, just on what they're looking for and things like that, that can put me in a bind. So, it's been really cool. They've been great teammates."

The Patriots certainly aren't without issues to resolve on offense. They haven't quite landed on a consistent five for the O-line, while Stefon Diggs remained limited from fully participating in team drills on the final day of minicamp. Maye had an up-and-down spring in the practices we saw, finishing minicamp with a shaky day that included an interception.

The line in front of Maye was more shaky than he was, but Campbell was assuredly steady both that day and for most of the offseason workouts. His jump from LSU to the NFL has been a relatively smooth one so far, especially considering the challenges that have been thrown at him. There's a long way to go for Campbell and the rest of the line, but left tackle has looked like a refreshingly low concern so far.