FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots coaches are making a point to temper expectations for star defensive tackle Christian Barmore in his return to practice after spending the first 10 weeks of the season on the non-football illness list with blood clots.
Barmore was diagnosed during the first week of training camp and had not practiced with the team since July. Barmore was present and participating in a non-padded practice on the field behind Gillette Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington said it’s a “blessing” that Barmore can practice at all after it was initially unclear if Barmore could return to football.
“Just remember, manage expectations. You guys should manage the expectation of whatever it is,” Covington said.
“He’s out there. That’s the first step, and then go from there. Let’s take it one day at a time, one week at a time, one game at a time, and that’s really the story for you guys, that’s the story for us, for him. There shouldn’t be any pressure on him. Like, he’s out there. That’s what it is. ‘I’m happy that you are out there, bro. You’re out there. It’s one snap, it’s 50 snaps, don’t play this game, whatever it is, perfect. It’s better than not being out there, right? It’s better than not being able to play football again.”
Since Barmore did not participate in Wednesday’s padded practice, it seems unlikely that he would play in Sunday’s game against the Rams. Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said he wasn’t sure how much conditioning work Barmore was able to do while on the NFI list.
The Patriots have a 21-day window to activate Barmore to the active roster. That would put them at Dec. 5, right before the bye week.
“Just look forward to having him back and around and see what he looks like,” Montgomery said before practice. “We haven’t seen him for a while, so it’s good to be able to get him on the practice field and see what happens.
“They’re going to tell me what’s what. I’m sure it will be day by day.”
Barmore was one of the Patriots’ best players last season, which is why he was rewarded with a four-year, $84 million contract extension in April.
The 25-year-old, who was a second-round pick out of Alabama in 2021, tallied 8.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, 16 QB hits, six pass breakups, one forced fumble and 64 tackles in 17 games with six starts in 2023. He has 12.5 sacks in his career.
“When you go back through the past, one thing he does a great job of is, you talk about being an effective rusher. He just plays hard and doesn’t stop,” Montgomery said. “So he plays with a really good rush motor. He does a great job there and he’s pretty stout in the run. Effective ballplayer, so it’ll be nice to — at some point in time — get him back.”
Barmore’s teammates are excited to have him back on the field, as well. Daniel Ekuale has taken on the bulk of Barmore’s role, but Davon Godchaux and Jeremiah Pharms have played more snaps this season, and newcomers Jaquelin Roy and Eric Johnson have also helped fill in.
Godchaux sees a “playmaker” in Barmore.
“You add depth on the D-line and you add a guy who can win 1-on-1 in pass rush,” Godchaux said. “That’ll be great for us. Then you can’t really double the edge guys. Anfernee (Jennings is) having a good year, a couple guys on the edge are playing pretty good at a high level. You add a guy like Barmore back, and it’s going to be even more pressure up the middle. I’m excited to see that.
The Patriots defenders were happy to have a high-energy player back in practice, as well.
“That’s my dawg. Good energy to have back in the room,” Pharms said. “He’s a good guy.”
For now, consider Barmore “day to day.” But it will be valuable to get him back on the field at all so that the Alabama product isn’t forced to miss an entire year of football.
And when the Patriots do get him back on the field, he can add a valuable element that will continue to help out a pass rush that generated nine sacks in Week 10 and a run defense that held the Bears to 3.6 yards per carry in Sunday’s win.
