Patriots Draft Preview: Solving O-Line Issues Won’t Be Easy

The New England Patriots still have half their schedule left to play, but at this point, it’s pretty evident that they’re going to have a premium pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Why wait to talk about it?

Keagan Stiefel (that’s me) joined George Balekji and Travis Thomas on NESN’s “Foxboro Rush” podcast on Friday to discuss a few possible candidates to select with that premium pick, as well as a couple of prospects you should be keeping an eye on moving forward.

“If there’s one thing that needs to be fixed in New England, it’s the offensive line,” Stiefel said. “… (LSU’s Will Campbell and Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr. are both great players), but at the end of the day it comes down to what you value.

“Will Campbell is going to be a good player, but where is he going to play? Is he going to be a left tackle or will he need to slide in to play guard? I think, either way, you guarantee yourself a damn-good offensive lineman. Kelvin Banks has a higher floor at tackle, but that floor could still be a smaller version of what you had in Trent Brown. Do you really want to spend a top-three pick on a guy like that?”

It’s ultimately going to fall on what New England values. Do you want to make sure you’re getting a great player who might not stick at left tackle (Campbell), or do you want to guarantee yourself a guy who can protect Drake Maye’s blindside, but might not be worthy of such a high pick (Banks)?

The Patriots ultimately need to make that decision, and unfortunately for them, they can’t afford to mess it up.

Stiefel (me again), Balekji and Thomas discussed some other prospects, as well, including UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III and Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III.

You can listen to the latest episode of “Foxboro Rush” on YouTube and Spotify.