The New England Patriots are close to getting back one of their best players.
Defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who has been out since late July after being diagnosed with blood clots, is expected to return to practice Thursday, according to a team source.
Barmore, 25, had seemed poised for a massive season after recording 8 1/2 sacks a year ago, then signing a four-year extension worth a maximum of $92 million, which came with $41.8 million guaranteed. He was present for the start of training camp before the blood clots were detected, then was placed on the league’s reserve/non-football injury list.
This move opens up a potential return to games for Barmore as soon as the end of this month. While recovering from the blood clots, Barmore was still a frequent presence at Gillette Stadium as the coaching staff tried to ensure he remained engaged and felt like part of the team. So coach Jerod Mayo assigned him what he called “Friday funny,” essentially tasking Barmore with presenting humorous clips to the whole team each week.
“I think it’s important for a guy like (Barmore) to be in the building,” Mayo said in September. “One thing about the idle mind, you’re just sitting at home all the time, that’s nothing but trouble. For a young player like that, this is an opportunity for him to learn about football as a whole and not just what a defensive tackle does.”
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If Barmore indeed returns to the lineup, that would be a massive boost to a Patriots team that wants to be tough to play against down the stretch, ideally playing the role of spoiler a few times even if they’re not in the playoff hunt. They’re hoping a few wins in the second half of the season can build momentum into an important offseason as Year 1 of this rebuild wraps up.
Few could aid that goal like Barmore. A second-round pick out of Alabama in 2021, Barmore blossomed last season into one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL. He finished with the eighth-highest pass rush grade among interior defensive linemen by Pro Football Focus.
This Patriots team that’s struggled to generate much of a pass rush could certainly use that. Even while it recorded nine sacks last week against a hapless Chicago Bears team, the Patriots still rank 25th in pressure rate this season, per TruMedia.
Now they seem poised to add their best pass rusher as they try to put together a respectable second half and build optimism for what Year 2 of the rebuild might look like.
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