Patriots reveal concerning Christian Barmore health update

The New England Patriots announced that defensive tackle Christian Barmore has been diagnosed with blood clots and there is no timetable for his return.

Christian Barmore was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Patriots, and while he is not a starter, he is a solid rotational defensive lineman. He started in two of the 17 games in his rookie year, according to Pro Football Reference. He then started in three of the 10 games he played in 2022. Last season, he started in six of the 17 games. Last season was Barmore's best season, as he put up 8.5 sacks with 64 tackles.

The Patriots detailed the next steps forward for Barmore as he begins his road to recovery.

“Over the weekend, Christian Barmore was diagnosed with blood clots. He was appropriately treated by the doctors at Mass General Brigham, who tested, evaluated and treated Christian,” the Patriots' announcement reads. “Our principal concern at this time is Christian's health and wellbeing. Fortunately, Mass General Brigham provides some of the best healthcare in the world. While there is no current timetable for his return, we know Christian is getting tremendous care and we look forward to his full recovery.”

It is obviously tough timing with training camp just recently starting up for the Patriots, but it is clear that the organization is fully behind Barmore in this time, and hopefully, he can have a smooth recovery and get back on the field as soon as possible.

Christian Barmore's development with the Patriots

As mentioned before, 2023 was by far Barmore's best season, reaching a career-high of 8.5 sacks. He graded out well by Pro Football Focus' standards as well, having an 83.8 overall grade, with a 67.8 run defense grade and an 84.9 pass rush grade.

This is a stark difference from his rookie year, in which he had a 64.5 overall grade with a 45.8 run defense grade and a 75.5 pass rush grade. 2022 was a bit of a step up with a 68.6 overall grade, 46.9 run defense grade and 80.4 pass rush grade.

It is clear that the pass rush traits have always been there by looking at the PFF grades. When looking deeper at the numbers for 2023, it shows that Barmore is a productive pass rusher. PFF does not credit players with half sacks, so they have Barmore with eight sacks, combined with 34 hurries and seven hits, which combines to for 49 total pressures. He did this on 478 pass rush snaps, meaning Barmore was pressuring the quarterback on 10.25% of his pass rush snaps, which is very good for an interior defender.

The Patriots have other good defensive pieces, but hopefully they can get Barmore back on the field at some point this season, because he is very impactful.