5 days Ago By Conor Ryan
By Conor Ryan Christian Barmore’s final stat line on Sunday may not necessarily leap off the page. The 25-year-old defensive lineman has established himself as a one-man wrecking crew in New England over the last few years, but was primarily limited to third-down situations against the Rams. He finished with three tackles in New England’s 28-22 loss to Los Angeles , earning plenty of double-team assignments along the line of scrimmage.
But Sunday’s matchup at Gillette Stadium meant far more for Barmore than whatever can be discerned from a stat sheet. After missing most of the season due to blood clots , Sunday marked Barmore’s first reps of the 2024 season — a rewarding result for a talented Patriots player whose promising career hit a shocking standstill just a few months earlier. “The blood clots are not a joke,” Barmore said postgame.
“I had real bad shortness of breath, and it messed with me like a lot. ..
. My teammates really supported the hell out of me, and I love them all, and coaches and all. And I told myself I was not gonna lose that battle.
So I told myself, I’m gonna keep fighting and keep going.” Those breathing issues — along with one of his calves growing to an alarming size — first alerted Barmore and the Patriots’ medical staff that something was wrong. Barmore initially thought it was nothing more than swelling in the early stages of training camp.
But the defensive tackle was initially informed that his 2024 season could have been over before it could even begin in earnest. It was a fate that Patriots center David Andrews faced a few years ago — with a similar blood-clotting issue sidelining him for the entire 2019 season. As Barmore started to ramp up his recovery and accelerated past the initial recovery timelines, he leaned on Andrews for guidance.
“That man DA’s a legend,” Barmore said of Andrews. “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.
” The Patriots have missed Barmore this season, especially after the 2021 second-round pick submitted a breakthrough season in 2023. He recorded a career-best 8.5 sacks last year, with New England rewarding him with a four-year contract extension worth up to $92 million in April.
For a time, Barmore was seemingly destined to spend the first year of his reworked contract on the sideline — with New England ruling him out indefinitely after his initial diagnosis. Sunday stood as an impressive turnaround for Barmore, considering where he was just a rew months ago. Even though New England wasn’t unable to generate sustained pressure against Rams QB Matt Stafford, the presence of Barmore moving forward should only continue to bolster the Patriots’ defense down the stretch.
“It motivates the hell out of me, especially my man, Mayo, — Coach Mayo and [defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington] and my teammates,” Barmore said. “Just the support they gave me every day. It feels like anybody in the world would love to come back, because this team really supported me every time .
.. I told myself, I’m going to come back for my team.
” Barmore acknowledged that he still has a ways to go before getting back to where he was last year. But given all that he’s gone through in 2024, the big man up front was just happy to be back on the gridiron. “Never take anything for granted, man,” Barmore said of the lessons learned from his medical emergency.
“Could have lost my life. When the doctor told me that, I just got closer with God. And just saying, like — why is this happening to me? But God makes no mistakes.
And I feel like God brings his toughest battle to his toughest soldiers. I’m a soldier, so I had to tell myself — I’m not going to let this beat me.” Conor Ryan Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.
com, a role he has held since 2023. Boston.com Today Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning.
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