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Patriots reportedly ‘bracing for the possibility’ of Christian Barmore missing 2024 season
"When he’s ready to go, we’ll be here waiting for him.”
The Patriots might be without arguably their most impactful defensive player for the full 2024 season.
Defensive tackle Christian Barmore has been ruled out since late July due to blood clots, with the 25-year-old budding star currently on the Non-Football Injury List at the start of the season.
Even though Barmore has been spotted in the Patriots’ locker room this week ahead of Week 1, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler noted in his latest insider column that New England is aware that the defensive lineman may not be cleared for game action before the 2024 campaign wraps up.
“The Patriots are bracing for the possibility that defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who’s on Reserve/Non-Football Injury list while being treated for blood clots, won’t play this season,” Fowler wrote Thursday. “New England doesn’t want to rush his recovery by any stretch. If he makes it back, great. But the team won’t push it. He’s a long-term asset.”
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Even before Thursday’s report, Jerod Mayo noted in July that the Patriots were not going to rush Barmore back until he gets a clean bill of health.
“All these situations are different and I’m not a specialist in that world. I don’t want to put a diagnosis or a timetable on that,” Mayo said during training camp. “When he’s ready to go, we’ll be here waiting for him.”
Barmore, who inked a four-year contract extension worth up to $92 million during the offseason, was poised for a strong season in Foxborough as a dynamic game-wrecker.
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The 6-foot-5 Barmore broke through on a stingy New England defense in 2023, recording 64 tackles and 8.5 sacks over 17 games. After appealing in 49 percent of defensive snaps in 2022, his reps increased last season (66 percent), with the 2021 second-round pick developing into a stout run stuffer and a pass-rushing threat up the middle.
Even if Barmore does not play a single snap in 2024 while recovering, the Patriots are reportedly expected to pay his full salary this year, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.
NFL teams are not required to pay the full salaries of players on the NFI list, but the Patriots reportedly will pay the $1.8 million in base salary that Barmore is expected to collect in 2024 in what will be the final year of his rookie deal. His $92 million extension will officially kick in during the 2025 NFL season.
Barmore is not the only Patriots regular whose football career has been impacted by blood-clotting issues — starting center David Andrews missed the entire 2019 season because of clots in his lungs.
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