FOXBOROUGH - This is Kevin Byard’s 11th NFL season. As someone who is closing in on their 33rd birthday (August 17th), you would understand if he didn’t particularly embrace this time of year, especially as a multi-time All-Pro (including last season). Sort of a “been there, done that” attitude, which a lot of veterans with his experience would agree with.
Instead, Byard is fully invested, be it in individual drills, team periods, or even times when he’s on the sidelines, away from the action. You can still spy him talking to members of the secondary. Why?
“This is crucial for me,” Byard told me. “And honestly, I look at the spring as well. I think just those reps are valuable. I've always been a high-rep guy, a guy that wants to be able to go out there and just see and feel different things. Now, obviously, I'm a little bit older, so maybe the muscle memory and things like that are a little bit better.
“But these reps are very valuable because, in my opinion, you always got to build from the ground up. So I can't depend on a first-team All-Pro last year, and just think I'm gonna walk out here and do it again. You have to start over from the beginning, taking those reps and not skipping any steps. … I always look at it as just valuable time. I'm always taking advantage of every day.”
Byard led the league in interceptions way back in 2017, then did it again last year. That’s like two different lifetimes in the NFL, and yet the veteran has made up for not having that top-end speed anymore with preparation, play recognition and by putting all those hundreds of thousands of reps to use. While we’re in the very early stages of camp, you understand why Mike Vrabel and company wanted a reunion, even if it might only be for one year.
NO REST
Much time has been spent dissecting and opining on the level of play the Patriots got from left tackle Will Campbell both pre- and post-injury, and whether he is the long-term answer at the position.
The team is certainly operating as if Campbell’s playoff performance was tied directly to his knee injury. It thus has maintained confidence in the player, even after taking another left tackle in round one of the 2026 draft (Caleb Lomu).
Campbell also got support from some of the best tackles in league history, with the likes of Andrew Whitworth and Terron Armstead coming to his defense publicly. He also got that support privately, spending time this offseason training with Eagles All-Pro Lane Johnson, Bucs star Tristan Wirfs, and Bills tackle Dion Dawkins at Johnson’s facility. It was eye-opening.
“Just a ton of knowledge,” Campbell said. “I mean, I worked with a lot of guys who have been around a long time and done it at a high level for a long time. So, just anything that they could teach me that could help me, whether that's football or off the field or just training and just being around them in the same environment, I always want to put myself in the best position possible.”
Inquiring minds wanted to know exactly how that worked. I mean, would an in-division rival like Dawkins, who Campbell said he hadn’t met before these workouts, actually reveal tricks of the trade that could help him (I know a certain quarterback who would never…)
“I don't really know about tricks of the trade just because we're two completely different players and two completely different systems,” Campbell said. “But he’s done it at a high level for a long time in this league and plays for a good team. Whatever he can teach me that might translate to my game from his, I'm gonna take it.”
One of the traits that the Pats came to appreciate about Campbell in the getting-to-know-you process pre-2025 draft, and then obviously having him in-house for the last year plus, is that he’s not one of those ‘my way is the only way’ players who think they have it figured out long before they ever could. His ears and eyes were open being around that caliber of players, as they should. “It would be stupid not to,” he said bluntly.
The spotlight will be on Campbell throughout the summer and, of course, all season. The doubters will point to every missed block, QB hit and sack and continue to wonder if he’s worthy of being Drake Maye’s blindside protector, if his arms are long enough, if he’s a protected player because of Vrabel’s affinity for him. That criticism clearly bothered the 22-year-old in his rookie campaign, and it's unlikely to quiet down unless Campbell takes the next step or two and proves he was and is worthy of being that franchise cornerstone.
SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE
Dre’Mont Jones, welcome to my world.
"I get a weird flak for not playing the run well because of stupid ass PFF,” Jones smiled in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub, adding. “I don’t know what happened. I felt like my first year, it was like, whatever, but the next thing you know, over the last five years, PFF is like Jesus Christ. It’s the bible of football now… I think we've got to go back to the old school ways of watching film and understanding a player's actual job within a play instead of guessing and assuming what a player does and grading him upon that.”
I’ve been fighting this fight for a long time, including with some of you. There are valuable aspects of what Pro Football Focus brings to the table. I do not believe the grades are one of them and do my best to avoid their inclusion in this process. That said, and I wrote this last week, while Jones is a better run defender than PFF gives him credit for, and miles ahead of what we saw from K’Lavon Chaisson in 2025, he has not been consistent enough with that aspect of his game.
One final word from Jones, but on a different subject (for those that are contemplating climbing aboard the Elijah Ponder hype train):
“I think we're an underrated (edge) group, and the world's going to see how good we can be,” he said. “Because guys like Elijah (Ponder), I mean, he can be the truth. To be honest with you, (Bradyn) Swinson, he can be a killer in this league.”
When asked why, Jones pointed out how hard those two work and how “talented” they are, but did add there is more for them to learn. I’ll file this one under we shall see.