Christian Barmore has been out of the mix for the Patriots since late July, when it became known the ascending defensive tackle had been dealing with blood clots. Barmore is now on New England’s reserve/non-football illness list, and it does not sound like the team is expecting him back anytime soon.
The Patriots are bracing for Barmore to miss the entire 2024 season, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. Viewing the recently extended defensive tackle as a building-block player, the Pats intend to be cautious here. They will not rush Barmore back. Given the Patriots’ big-picture situation and one example from the recent past, it might surprise if Barmore played again before the 2025 season.
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New England’s spree of extensions and re-signings notwithstanding, this is not viewed as a contending roster. In addition to campaigning in a difficult division placed in what still looks like the tougher of the two conferences, the Patriots are not yet turning to Drake Maye at quarterback. Jacoby Brissett is starting the season, giving off a placeholder vibe while the team grapples with a shaky offensive line. Barmore not playing in 2024 also stands to strengthen the Patriots’ chances of securing a pick near the top of the 2025 draft.
A Patriots squad with much loftier ambitions dealt with a similar situation as well. David Andrews missed the entire 2019 season due to blood clots. The veteran center needed to be hospitalized because of the issue in late August of 2019. Andrews missed the Pats’ most recent Super Bowl title-defense season and was not cleared to resume his career until early May 2020. No two cases are alike, of course, but the organization — as its Tom Brady heyday wound down — saw a key starter miss a full season after receiving a similar diagnosis to the one Barmore heard this summer.
Prior to this concerning issue surfacing, Barmore proved himself to be an impact inside pass rusher. With Matt Judon down for most of last season, Barmore led the Patriots with 8.5 sacks. This came on only six starts. The former second-round pick then signed a four-year, $84MM extension — a move that impacted the futures of Judon and Davon Godchaux this offseason — that ties him to the Pats through 2028.
Beyond Godchaux, however, the Patriots are light sans Barmore at D-tackle. Jeremiah Pharms, Daniel Ekuale and Eric Johnson round out New England’s DT depth chart. Pharms is a 2023 UDFA who played 90 defensive snaps as a rookie; a fifth-round Colts draftee in 2022 whom the Pats claimed on waivers, Johnson has no career starts. The most experienced non-Godchaux option as a five-year veteran, Ekuale made his last start in 2020.
Gonna be a long year in New England
I imagine most Bostonians have checked their calendar to see when the Bruins and Celtics start playing 🙂
We don’t have to we can focus on the Swayman crap that’s going on
So the $74 mlillion question is did Christian Barmore know about the looming bloodclot issues when he signed his extension?
Planning for and paying for Barmore leaves the pass rush cupboard bare for the Patriots.
The $74m question would be did the NE doctors miss the blood clots before the signing?
If Barmore’s own doctors had identified the issue, told Barmore, and Barmore didn’t share this with the team, this would be evidence of bad faith and could annul the contract based on fraud. This is general contract law. There’s probably more specific rules and precedent in the NFL collective bargaining agreement.
If someone knows more about medical issues and contracts, I’d be delighted to learn more.
I don’t know how it works, lawfully speaking, but before I hand out massive contracts to athletes; I’m going to have my medical team evaluate him first.
Its not the player’s onus to do the team’s job.
I hope you’re medical team can recognize a concussion (the Dolphins had trouble with this) and avoid puncturing a player’s lung (remember the Tyrod Taylor incident).
DC missed cancer on Trent Williams.
I can understand them having a hard time connecting that to the guy complaining about a badly fitting helmet.
The most intriguing question is how many rub and tugs does 74 million buy?
Is there anyone in his general area who could provide that information?