It's funny how much negativity people have thrown out about Barmore based on a couple articles. It's funny that no one mentioned POSITIVE articles.
Barmore has only played football for a handful of seasons. Now he’s gone from Alabama to the Patriots, with expectations rising.
theathletic.com
"The hulking defensive tackle was
naturally athletic, eager to learn, driven for success and energetic enough in practice that he’d run around with the skill players or jump on the field to catch punts. Frequently working one-on-one with Holmes, Barmore would hit the blocking sled hundreds of times per day to fine-tune his techniques."
...
“That locker room culture helps develop a guy like Christian who comes in a little rough around the edges, maybe not as disciplined, not always doing things as right as they need to be,” Locksley said. “The locker room fixes a lot of those issues at a place like Alabama. It obviously paid off big dividends for him with the success he’s had.”
...
"“I can remember him being on the scout team that year for us and just being a pain in the ass,” Locksley said. “I can tell you he was a pain in the butt. Every week, he was the scout team player of the week. He won it quite a bit
. He had a motor. He gave a great look. He always went hard. There was no half speed on him, and it kind of pissed off some of the veteran (offensive) linemen because they were used to going against the scout team to work on their technique and fundamentals, but he’d make them look bad if they didn’t go full speed. He did a great job of getting that 2018 group ready for games because of how he practiced.”"
“He always played with that
edge of aggression that you want to play with up front to control the line of scrimmage,” Locksley said. “To see his ability as an interior pass rusher, the tackles for loss and the sacks, I wasn’t surprised with the way he practiced on the scout team. It was good to see his development and how fast he came along.”
So, while Barmore was immature early on, the Alabama locker-room culture got him straightened out to the point he was a leader for them.
Also, people have knocked Barmore's "run stopping ability". Yet the kid put up 6 TFLs in 2019 and another 9.5TFL in 2020.
Barmore turns 22 the day that TC starts. He's raw in that he's only got 4 years of Football behind him.1 of HS, 1 Red Shirt, and 2 playing. That being said, it's clear that he's extremely coachable AND he WANTS to succeed. The article that the OP mentioned seems more like a pre-draft hit piece to cause Barmore's stock to go down so a team could get a steal of a player.
I don't think that Barmore is a gamble any more than any other draft pick not named Barkley, Manning, or McCaffery.
