New England Patriots left tackle Will Campbell has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his right knee and is expected to miss some game action, a source told ESPN on Tuesday.
The initial belief is that Campbell's injury isn't as bad as the Grade 3 torn MCL that he suffered on the same knee last November that led the Patriots to place him on injured reserve. Campbell, the Patriots' first-round pick in 2025, admittedly returned from that injury for the postseason before he was 100% healed and struggled with protecting quarterback Drake Maye.
Rookie first-round pick Caleb Lomu stepped in after Campbell was injured when a Las Vegas Raiders defender tackled running back Rhamondre Stevenson into Campbell's leg on a rushing attempt in the second quarter. Lomu, who played left tackle in college at Utah, is a top candidate to start while Campbell recovers.
"I don't think it was too big for him," Vrabel told reporters of Lomu's fill-in performance. "You didn't really notice him a lot, so I think that's probably a good thing."
With the Patriots tapping their offensive tackle depth, they could benefit from having 2025 seventh-round pick Marcus Bryant -- who was tracking to be the top swing tackle in the preseason -- begin to practice. Bryant had been placed on injured reserve with a designation to return at the final roster cutdown after being rolled up on in a preseason game, and he was eligible to begin practicing last week.
New England has had a difficult run of injuries, losing multiple offensive linemen for the season. Running back TreVeyon Henderson also is expected to miss multiple weeks with a high ankle sprain, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Vrabel said "there's a chance" that receiver A.J. Brown will be activated off injured reserve and can play against the New York Jets on Sunday.
ESPN's Mike Reiss contributed to this report.