The New England Patriots welcomed back Christian Barmore following his scary health situation in their 28-22 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

Barmore played in his first game since being diagnosed with blood clots early in training camp in July. After returning to practice earlier in the week, Barmore only played 21 snaps as the team was cautious in their usage of him. He recorded three total tackles in Sunday's game.

Even though Barmore played limited snaps in Sunday's game, he seemed just happy to be back on the field as his 2024 season was initially in question.

“Man, it was a blessing of God,” Barmore told reporters. “First, they said I was probably going to miss the year, and that hurt. When they said that [he was cleared], I was really excited, I was anxious, I couldn’t go to sleep because I was so excited.

“[I learned] not to take anything for granted. I could’ve lost my life. When the doctor told me that … I got closer with God, [wondering] why this happened to me, but God makes no mistakes, God brings his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers. I’m a soldier, so I told myself I wasn’t going to let this beat me.”

Earlier in the week, Jerod Mayo preached that the “expectation is that there is no expectation” with Barmore. The Patriots coach was a bit disappointed that his defensive line was unable to make a play in the backfield in Sunday's game, but he was also pleased to see Barmore back in action.

“I'm not sure what the final snap count was, but it was good just to see him back out there,” Mayo said. “Obviously, he's a disruptive presence, but today – with anyone, linebackers, defensive front – I don't think we had any negative tackle for loss or anything like that, but it was good to have him out there, and first and foremost player safety is important, and I know he was excited about it.”

Patriots DT Christian Barmore discussed his journey with blood clots

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Barmore noticed that something was up with his body during training camp when the size of one of his calves was larger than the other. That's when he went to the team's trainer to get checked out and was soon diagnosed with blood clots.

Barmore shared what it was like to deal with blood clots.

“The blood clots are no joke,” Barmore said. “I had real bad shortness of breath, and it messed with me a lot. Mentally, I had my teammates, the medical team. … My teammates really supported the hell out of me, and I love them all. I told myself I was not going to lose that battle. I told myself I was going to keep going.”

This wasn't the first time the Patriots have had a player deal with blood clots in recent years. David Andrews was diagnosed with blood clots ahead of the 2019 season and missed the entire year. Barmore credited the Patriots center for helping him get through the last few months.

“That man DA’s a legend,” Barmore said. “He kept my head up, every time I needed to talk to him, every time I had my head down, he came up to me, wanted to talk to me. Especially hearing his story, he just motivated me to keep going even stronger, keep fighting, just to work on myself and make myself a better man.”

Barmore will have another opportunity to make an impact when the Patriots take on the Miami Dolphins in Week 12.