Expectations have been significantly raised for the Patriots in 2026.
In Year 1 under new head coach Mike Vrabel, the Patriots went 14-3 during the regular season and unexpectedly made the Super Bowl after finishing 4-13 in consecutive seasons. Now it’s about figuring out how to get back to the Super Bowl and win it all.
Vrabel and top front-office executives Eliot Wolf, Ryan Cowden and John Streicher have over $40 million in cap space (with other means to free up more) and 11 selections in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Herald is publishing a daily series with five offseason fixes that cover the draft, free agency and trades that can help the Patriots get back to the Super Bowl.
No. 2: Fortify the offensive line
You might believe the key to fixing the Patriots’ offensive line is to move Will Campbell to left guard.
And you might be right. But as of now, that’s nothing but a fantasy proposition. Vrabel shot down the idea in his season-ending press conference last week after the Patriots lost Super Bowl LX to the Seahawks.
“When you sign up to play left tackle, you sign up to play corner, you sign up to play quarterback, you sign up to be the head coach, you get judged, you get scrutinized. Will’s 22 years old. He’s our left tackle,” Vrabel affirmed. “He’ll get better, he’ll get stronger. There were moments where he played well, moments where he blocked the guy. There’s plays he’d like to have back. We’re not moving Will to guard, to center, to tight end or anywhere else. So, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Campbell had a very solid rookie regular season and then struggled mightily in the postseason.
He earned a 72.6 overall PFF grade during the regular season with a 76.1 pass-blocking grade and 67.7 run-blocking grade, letting up five sacks, five QB hits and 26 total pressures with a 96.5% pass-blocking efficiency metric.
Those numbers dropped down to a 48.7 overall PFF grade, 34.7 pass-blocking grade, 65.9 run-blocking grade with four sacks, two QB hits and 19 total pressures with a 92.6% pass-blocking efficiency metric in the playoffs, facing off against four top-tier defenses in the Chargers, Texans, Broncos and Seahawks.
The quality of competition increased, but Campbell was also coming off of a knee injury that put him on injured reserve and sidelined him for four weeks.
The rest of the Patriots’ offensive line is also under contract next season in left guard Jared Wilson, center Garrett Bradbury, right guard Mike Onwenu and right tackle Morgan Moses. Top backup guard/center Ben Brown is also under contract. Top backup tackles Vederian Lowe and Thayer Munford Jr. are both free agents.
The Patriots could choose to sit back and hope that improvements from Campbell and Wilson will fix the offensive line when it matters most and the competition is fiercest, but that’s also not a guaranteed fix.
The other option is to be proactive and ensure that at least one position is improved upon this offseason. Despite Campbell’s struggles in the playoffs, Wilson was the weakest link in the group throughout the season and still projects best as a center. So, the Patriots could let Wilson and Bradbury battle it out for the starting center spot this offseason and sign an experienced guard.
It’s not a bad year to find guard on the open market with Isaac Seumalo (Steelers), David Edwards (Bills), Alijah Vera-Tucker (Jets) and Joel Bitonio (Browns) all set to hit free agency. Seumalo, Edwards and Bitonio are all left guard by trade. Vera-Tucker has mostly played right guard but was the Jets’ starting left guard as a rookie. The Patriots could also sign a versatile offensive lineman like Jermaine Eluemunor, who spent the 2020 season in New England and can play guard or tackle.
Center Tyler Linderbaum is the best offensive lineman available, but there’s already a logjam at center, and signing him would essentially force Wilson into a role at left guard, where he’ll likely always be undersized.
Regardless of how the Patriots handle guard and center this season, they should also look to select another tackle early in the 2026 NFL Draft. The reasons are two-fold.
First, Moses will turn 35 in March, and the Patriots were extremely fortunate to get 21 games out of him this season. Drafting a tackle would give Moses a built-in backup, and the rookie could be developed into a full-time starter as early as 2027.
Second, if Campbell does have to move inside to guard at some point, then it can’t hurt to keep adding young tackles.
Houston left tackle Caleb Lomu, Georgia left tackle Monroe Freeling, Arizona State right tackle Max Iheanachor, Clemson right tackle Blake Miller, Northwestern left tackle Caleb Tiernan and Iowa right tackle Gennings Dunker could all be in play for the Patriots in the first or second round.
The Patriots have other needs, like wide receiver, tight end and edge defender, but none was more glaring during this postseason run than on the offensive line.
