Patriots Left Tackle Will Campbell Shares Unique Fear He Has Outside of Football

New England Patriots left tackle Will Campbell has an unexpected off-field fear — cats.

Campbell, 22, shared the origin story of his feline fear during a media appearance on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The Patriots rookie was startled by a cat while sleeping over at a friend’s house when he was a teenager, he said.

“I went in the room that I was sleeping in, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face,” Campbell began. “I take my shirt off, I’m about to get in bed, and I just hear [a screech] and it jumps out from under this bed and onto my leg. I booted that thing onto the ceiling.”

“No, you did not. You kicked it?” the interviewer asked off camera.

“Yeah, I kicked it, it was biting me I’m not going to just let it,” Campbell replied.

When asked if his friend’s cat survived the incident, Campbell responded, “I hope not.”

The interviewer then asked if he would apologize to the cat, to which he answered, “No. It needs to apologize for biting my damn leg.”

Campbell played for Louisiana State University. The Patriots drafted him with the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He played in 13 games during his rookie season, missing only four due to an injury.

Campbell will soon face off against a non-feline opponent — the Seattle Seahawks — in his first Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 8.

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Bad Bunny will take the stage as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer, with Green Day also performing and Charlie Puth singing the national anthem on game day, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.