Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel admits he likes the options expected to be available when New England is on the clock with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
He just doesn’t know exactly who will still be on the board.
“You tell me who goes 1, 2 and 3, and I’ll tell you who goes 4,” Vrabel said Monday at the NFL’s annual spring meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
New England didn’t add a left tackle in free agency and Vrabel confesses the “draft is a good option for us” to fill what is viewed as a glaring need. The Patriots signed 34-year-old Morgan Moses to play right tackle, and the Patriots plan to give Caedan Wallace an opportunity to compete for a starting job, Vrabel said.
While not ruling out a trade down from No. 4, the top offensive tackle prospects in the draft — LSU’s Will Campbell and Missouri’s Armand Membou — are names Vrabel has heavily studied.
“They’re great young, talented players that have great film. Will has a lot of snaps at left tackle. Membou has played right, but there’s a lot of guys that have played right and left and switched. Those are two good young players to talk about in that conversation,” Vrabel said.
Campbell’s wingspan of less than 78 inches was a red flag at the NFL Scouting Combine and his arm length of 32 5/8 inches is well under the prototype baseline most teams follow. Vrabel insisted Campbell’s college film at LSU proved he can play left tackle in the NFL. He also indicated there are no doubts in the Patriots’ building that Membou, a 332-pound freakish athlete who played right tackle at Missouri, can operate on quarterback Drake Maye’s blindside.
Vrabel went out of his way to warn media to “be careful” projecting the Patriots to pick a player at the position because it’s viewed as a dire need. He said personnel boss Eliot Wolf and the scouting staff are focused on adding premium talent regardless of position, which could include wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter of Colorado.
The Patriots have Hunter ranked as the No. 1 wide receiver in the draft. New England wouldn’t insist on Hunter converting to offense full-time after he played both ways at Colorado, logging more than 100 snaps per game as a two-way star and Heisman Trophy winner. New England isn’t joining the debate about how difficult the double workload would be in the NFL, because there is no true precedent, Vrabel said.
“We’ve never seen a player necessarily do it,” Vrabel said. “There are some things that he can improve on by probably concentrating more on just one position, but never going to put any restrictions on Travis or any player. We’d be open to playing everybody that we had at more than one position, anything that would help the football team.”
Vrabel said defensive tackle Christian Barmore is cleared to participate in voluntary team workouts and would be closely monitored in his upramp to return from a blood clotting condition. Barmore, 25, experienced recurring symptoms in December after playing four games and his future was uncertain. Vrabel said Monday that the Patriots have “a great plan for him” now that he’s feeling better.
–Field Level Media
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