Patriots’ Will Campbell could face NFL punishment for post-Super Bowl behavior

Patriots’ Will Campbell could face NFL punishment for post-Super Bowl behavior originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

New England Patriots offensive tackle Will Campbell played the worst game of his NFL career on the biggest stage in sports.

Campbell struggled to keep the Seattle Seahawks’ relentless pass-rush away from quarterback Drake Maye, allowing 14 pressures in New England’s 29-13 Super Bowl LX loss on Sunday — the most allowed by any player in a game this season, according to NextGen Stats.

The 22-year-old rookie certainly wasn’t the Patriots’ sole problem — the entire offensive line surrendered six sacks and allowed 19 total pressures — and Maye had a career-high 10 off-target passes and committed three turnovers when pressured, also a career high, according to ESPN Insights.

But because Campbell’s mishaps were so glaringly obvious, many expected him to account for his poor performance after the game.

The only problem is no one ever got any answers as Campbell declined to speak with reporters — a clear violation of NFL rules, as players who are not in concussion protocol must be made available to the media when requested.

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“While most Patriots players took questions from reporters, LT Will Campbell declined multiple times and left,” Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported on X.

NFL players are typically fined in the $14,000-$16,000 range for first time offenses for not talking to reporters postgame. Those fines escalate for every offense after the first.

Campbell’s actions seemed to be his attempt to avoid having to answer the barrage of questions he likely had coming about his underwhelming performance — a blatant violation of the NFL’s media policy.

Seahawks legend Marshawn Lynch was arguably the biggest offender of this policy. Lynch admitted on the “I Am Athlete” podcast back in 2023 that he was fined more than $1.2 million in his career for not speaking with reporters, including a $75,000 fine for one such instance after the 2015 NFC Championship Game, and $100,000 fines for separate incidents in both 2013 and 2014.

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