Will Campbell streamlines stages of grief after latest knee injury

Coming out of college, durability was one of Will Campbell’s many strengths. Not even halfway through his second season with the New England Patriots, he has missed time due to injury twice already.

The second of those injuries happened against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, and it did leave the 22-year-old not only in pain. It also, by his own admission, left him quite angry at the situation.

“Just mad. That’s really all it was. I was just pissed off,” Campbell told reporters at his Gillette Stadium locker on Wednesday.

For Campbell, hurting his right knee after getting rolled up on from behind is unfortunately nothing new. The same thing happened to him during his 2025 rookie season in a game against the Bengals.

He missed the next four contests as a result of that particular injury before returning for the regular season finale and later New England’s playoff run. However, he was a shell of his former self upon coming back from the torn MCL he had sustained.

This year, the ordeal appears to be far more favorable for the player. It has allowed Campbell to quickly jump from anger to acceptance — two distinct stages of grief, as coined by everybody’s favorite Swiss-American psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross — rather quickly.

“It’ll be all right,” Campbell said. “I could definitely tell a difference from this year to last year.”

Campbell exited the Patriots’ Week 5 game versus Las Vegas in the second quarter. He gingerly walked into the locker room after the injury and was quickly announced as questionable to return to the game. Despite that label, he made his way back to the sideline shortly thereafter. He expected a return to the game — “I thought I was going back in,” he said — but the team decided to roll with rookie Caleb Lomu instead.

Campbell was last seen riding a stationary bike, and did not come out with the rest of his teammates after halftime. He eventually was ruled out.

Despite the injury and subsequent reports that he had suffered a knee sprain that would force the team to take a “week by week” approach, Campbell has decided to look at the glass as half-full rater than half-empty.

“As s—ty as it is, it’s part of this game. It’s part of playing the position that we play, and stuff happens. You just have to hope the chips kind of fall your way,” he said.

“It always could be worse. Just going to take it day by day, not going to put any expectations on anything, and just trust my body, see how I’m feeling, ramping up and things like that, and see what happens.”

What has happened already is Campbell appearing at practice. While limited, he managed to participate in the session with his teammates. That does not guarantee a spot on the game-day squad, or indeed the 53-man roster, for the upcoming game against the New York Jets and beyond, but it is a positive step in the right direction.