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NFL analysts identified ‘X-factor’ player for Patriots defense in 2025
"Great defenses have been built on far less."
The Patriots defense in 2025: One of several areas the Patriots will need to improve upon in the 2025 season is the defense. After posting a top-10 finish in yards allowed during Bill Belichick’s final season in 2023, New England fell to 22nd in 2024 as the team struggled across the board.
Looking ahead, former Patriots edge rusher Mike Vrabel is now the head coach, and will be hoping to elicit better results. Assessing what might be possible, NFL analysts Mina Kimes and Gregg Rosenthal discussed New England’s defense, and a player who might be the team’s “X-factor” in leading a resurgence.
Kimes, speaking during an episode of her podcast, “The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny,” asked Rosenthal who he sees as a difference-maker.
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Rosenthal, host of the “NFL Daily” podcast, acknowledged that a basic scan of the roster revealed “not that many Bill Belichick draft picks, and he just left.”
“You look at the roster, and they definitely raised the floor. But how can their ceiling be higher? There are not a lot of potential great players to me on their offense other than Drake Maye, but you have All-Pro-type cornerback in Christian Gonzalez, and you have a guy that could be an All-Pro in Christian Barmore,” Rosenthal explained. “He just came into the league almost as an elite pass-rusher right off the bat.
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Having looked back through their tape, Rosenthal referenced a Patriots win over the Broncos in late 2023 in which Barmore dominated, registering three sacks and leading the team with eight tackles.
“His strength and versatility are just awesome. He has the full bag. There was a game on Christmas eve where they won and lost their chance at the No. 2 pick—I thought they would lose their chance at [drafting] Drake Maye, it turned out Jayden Daniels went [second overall] and they got Drake Maye—where he lined up everywhere and destroyed that game. He destroyed Russell Wilson.”
For Barmore, talent has never been the question. The unfortunate issue he dealt with in 2024, which limited him to just four games, was a health scare involving blood clots.
“He’s fully cleared. He’s practiced. The reports are that he looks totally normal back at practice,” Rosenthal said of Barmore. “That would be huge for them if he’s back in a big way.”
Kimes, taking the measure of the Patriots’ defense, concurred.
“If Christian Barmore is back to being the player that we saw a couple of years ago before he missed a season, you could argue that the Patriots defense has two pairs that are up there with any in the NFL in terms of Barmore and Milton Williams at the defensive line, and then Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis at cornerback,” she said. “Great defenses have been built on far less.”
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Looking at the possibility of a Patriots resurgence, Kimes sees a path forward for Vrabel in his first season.
“If you can marry some of the existing great players—and Barmore truly was a great player—with some of the additions, I think they could bounce back in a big way also with Vrabel as the head coach.”
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox begin a three-game series against the Braves in Atlanta tonight at 7:15 p.m.
The Revolution will be on the road in Montreal on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
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