New England Patriots left tackle Will Campbell says his knee is back to full strength after he tore a ligament in his knee during the regular season, did not have surgery, and followed a rehab routine through the offseason.
Will Campbell walked into Tuesday’s media session still carrying the memory of the Super Bowl night when the Patriots fell to the Seahawks. It’s clear he wasn’t ready to talk immediately after the loss.
Campbell didn’t speak to reporters in the immediate aftermath of New England’s Super Bowl defeat. He later explained it was emotional—tied to the way he played and the pressure that followed Drake Maye. Campbell said he allowed pressure 14 times in the game. a detail that sat heavy after a season that had already forced the team to deal with scrutiny and question marks.
When Campbell finally did address the media. he shifted the focus to the knee that has been part of his season story. He revealed he tore a ligament in his knee during the regular season. Instead of surgery. Campbell said he stayed with rehab. and that decision has shaped how he feels going into his second NFL season.
“My No. 1 goal was just take a couple of days away and just assess everything with the coaches,” Campbell said. “Pinpoint down the things I do really well and then things I need to get better at. Getting back healthy, I did PT five days a week the entire offseason until we got back basically. Just trying to rebuild the strength in my knee to get it back to where it was previously and I feel like I did a good job of that.”.
Those words land with a specific kind of weight for the Patriots. Before the season, Campbell faced questions about whether he could handle the demands of an NFL left tackle role. He addressed much of that doubt during the regular season. and the job he did then is part of why the Super Bowl and the weeks around it still hurt.
New England’s loss to Seattle didn’t come out of nowhere—it sat inside what Campbell and the Patriots are hoping was a difficult playoff run shaped more by his injury than a sudden change in the level of competition. The Patriots are looking back at a relatively light regular-season schedule before the postseason. and they’re trying to make sense of how quickly things turned.
The knee injury and the rehab plan sit at the center of that narrative now. Campbell says he has rebuilt his strength and is heading into his second season ready to carry his role again, with the kind of confidence that comes from doing the work—and from knowing exactly what he had to overcome.
Will Campbell Patriots Super Bowl Seahawks Drake Maye knee ligament NFL rehab left tackle New England Patriots
Rehab five days a week like the rest of us are gonna do, sure.