Following his blood clot diagnosis this summer, which put his status for 2024 – and potentially beyond – in question, seeing Christian Barmore back on the field on Sunday against the Rams was certainly a bright spot.
Barmore returned to practice late last week, with his status for Sunday’s game being a key question after some surprisingly upbeat comments from head coach Jerod Mayo later in the week.
“There’s a chance,” said Mayo on Friday. “We have a meeting with the doctors after practice today, so there is a chance.”
“No, seriously, there is a chance,” he continued. “We have medical meetings every single day, and we’ll see how that goes.”
Obviously, the doctors signed off on his return and Barmore ended up seeing action during Sunday’s game. He was in on 21 snaps against the Rams (40%), finishing with three tackles and he was also spotted bringing pressure on a day where the Patriots were in need of someone helping to throw off Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
That was a surprising amount of playing time given his layoff and what he was coming back from. Still, while the final outcome was disappointing, the fact Barmore was out there and might be a part of things over this final stretch of the season is absolutely good news.
“I’m not sure what the final snap count was, but it was good just to see him back out there,” said Mayo after the game. “Obviously, he’s a disruptive presence, but today, with anyone, linebackers, defensive front, I don’t think we had any negative tackle for a loss or anything like that, but it was good to have him out there. First and foremost, player safety is important, and I know he’s excited about it.”
Barmore spoke with reporters after the game and said it was a long road back, which he said wasn’t easy. He credited physician assistant Matt Fuller for helping him make his way back, along with all of his teammates who supported him.
“Blood clots aren’t a joke,” said Barmore. “I had real bad shortness of breath, and it messed with me a lot. Mentally, I had my teammates, my medical team, my guy Wall [Fuller] that was with me every day grinding. There were days that I just wanted to stop, but he kept me going. He kept me strong.”
“My teammates really support the hell out of me, and I love them all, coaches and all. I told myself I was not going to lose that battle. I told myself I was going to keep fighting, keep going.”
Barmore said after Sunday’s game that he feels good, but still has some work ahead of him.
“Still trying to get in game shape, but I felt real good,” said Barmore. “I really just have to keep grinding, man. Just keep doing extra work. Stuff is out of my lungs now, thank God. I just have to keep grinding, but I feel really good. I feel really good.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
the Pats to me ideally need another DT via the draft or FA. The middle of the D is/was the “softness” issue. The never replaced Lawrence Guy, so Baremore being out on top of Guy was a big deal. Baremore being back should help the cause. Hopefully Baremore can get back into football shape in a few weeks and stay healthy.