The New England Patriots have gotten two key players back at the right time.
Ahead of the team’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots activated star defensive tackle Milton Williams and left tackle Will Campbell from injured reserve.
Campbell has been sidelined for the last four games after suffering a knee injury in Cincinnati on Nov. 23, but is returning for the first game he’s eligible for. As for Williams, he hurt his ankle against the Jets on Nov. 13 and has missed the past five games.
Along with these two roster moves, the Patriots also elevated practice squad linemen Brenden Jaimes and Leonard Taylor, while releasing Jeremiah Pharms from the 53-man roster.
Will Campbell Reflects On Being Sidelined Due To Injury
GettyWill Campbell of the New England Patriots
When speaking with reporters ahead of his return, Campbell revealed that his first thought after he suffered the injury was, “Expletive!”
“Whenever you hear a noise, it’s not something that you want to hear. I think every athlete in every sport will tell you that,” Campbell said per MassLive. “It’s just difficult to process, but I had a lot of good guys around me on the team, the coaching staff, the training staff, that have gone through this injury before. They helped talk me through everything.”
Offensive line coach Doug Marrone also provided some insight into Campbell’s rehab.
“Will pretty much really attacked it. I think that’s important,” Marrone said per MassLive. “I’ve been fortunate to see that out of a lot of players throughout the years. It’s very unfortunate that someone gets hurt, you never want that, but then to watch them work as hard as they work to get back is something that’s a good quality to have.”
“He’s worked hard to be where he is right now,” Marrone added. “In my experience, you really don’t know how people will handle it. The faster you understand what happened and the faster you can get on track to try to rehabilitate and get better and use the resources around you, is great, but having veterans who have gone through it, that helps out quite a bit.”
Drake Maye Is Very Excited To Have ‘Big Willy’ Back
GettyPatriots QB Drake Maye
“I’m looking forward to having Big Willy back out there and looking forward to seeing him get back to doing what he does best.”
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