The fourth-year defensive tackle is back from his blood clots diagnosis.
The writing was on the wall, and on Thursday the wait was finally over: four months after getting diagnosed with blood clots, New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore was back on the practice field behind Gillette Stadium.
Barmore’s return obviously is a big step for him personally, but it also is good news for the Patriots. With that in mind, let’s take a big-picture look at what his comeback means for the club.
The return window opens
At the current moment, Barmore returning to practice primarily means one thing: it’s another step toward him returning to actual game action. For that to happen, though, the Patriots will have to activate him to their 53-man roster within 21 days.
If they do so, the move will require a follow-up; with roster spots a finite resource, New England will have to remove a player either through cutting or moving to an injury list. If they decide against activating Barmore within those three weeks for whichever reason, on the other hand, he will have to sit out the remainder of the season on the non-football illness list.
What is noteworthy about his timeline is that the return window will close just before New England’s Week 14 bye. This means that the team could theoretically have Barmore practice four weeks before actually having to make a decision about his readiness for a game day roster.
A big boost to the defense
The Patriots signed Barmore to a four-year, $84 million contract extension in March — a clear sign how they feel about him and his role within their defense. Indeed, he is a player deserving of the oftentimes overused “difference maker” label.
Barmore is one of the premier young interior defensive linemen in football and a capable player against both the run and the pass. Once he is back in the game day lineup, he is expected to resume a key role along New England’s defensive front and will add some blue-chip talent to the team’s defense.
In fact, together with Christian Gonzalez, he has a strong case as one of the team’s best two players on that side of the ball and possibly on the team as a whole right now. Getting a player of that potential back mid-season is a boost to the entire team.
Defensive line depth improves significantly
As noted above, Barmore is not immediately added to the defensive line mix and will have to work his way back into roster-caliber shape. Time will tell when, or whether, that will happen.
Still, the prospect of him rejoining the team should have the Patriots feeling good about their depth along the defensive line. After all, adding Barmore to the interior D-line personnel as per our regularly updated Patriots roster would create the following depth chart:
Interior defensive line (8): Christian Barmore (90), Davon Godchaux (92), Keion White (99), Deatrich Wise Jr. (91), Daniel Ekuale (95), Jeremiah Pharms Jr. (98), Jaquelin Roy (94), Eric Johnson (96)
As a three-down player, Barmore would quickly improve the state of the entire group. He would be a competent running mate next to Davon Godchaux on early downs, and be part of a formidable pass rush duo next to current Patriots sack leaders Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr.
More immediate impact
Even though he was sidelined since late July, Barmore received praise from his coaches for his involvement during his on-field absence. One part of that was running the so-called “Friday Funny” entertainment program, but he also was actively engaged in other ways as defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery explained back in September.
“He’s just been around, staying active from the standpoint of being involved in meetings, keeping his mind on football, stuff like that,” Montgomery said. “It’s just been good to have him around, for sure.”
It all is depending on his activation status, of course, but Barmore’s impact could become much more immediate in the near future. Not only will he actively influence the product on the field once back, he also can be more prominent as a leader on game day
Potential impact on 2025 salary cap
The Patriots designating Barmore to return means that they are optimistic he will be back on the roster within the next three weeks. If he is, and is subsequently deemed worthy to make the game day roster without any follow-up setbacks, he will end up seeing action in up to seven games this season.
This also means that his salary cap impact next year will be adjusted accordingly. Barmore, after all, has a total of $1.275 million in per game roster bonuses — $75,000 per game — embedded into the 2025 portion of his recent contract extension.
A majority of that sum will be considered not likely to be earned (NLTBE) for the purpose of calculating his cap hit next season; so far, Barmore has missed 10 games meaning that his 2025 cap number will be reduced by at least $750,000. However, up to $525,000 are still in play for the likely to be earned (LTBE) categorization that would in fact hit the Patriots’ books next year.
Regardless of what will happen, the $15.1 million cap hit currently projected for Barmore next season will not stand. It will be no higher than $14.35 million, with the difference possibly then moving forward to the 2026 cap depending on how many games he will actually play in 2025.