The New England Patriots will be without one of their most important defensive players for the foreseeable future.
On Sunday, the team announced defensive tackle Christian Barmore was diagnosed with blood clots over the weekend and there is no timetable for his return. For what it's worth, Patriots center David Andrews missed the entire 2019 season after being diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs.
While it's unclear how much time Barmore will miss, New England must prepare to be without its standout defender for most, if not all, of the 2024 campaign. Head coach Jerod Mayo was asked Monday about finding a replacement for Barmore.
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“We’ll see,” he said. “It’s the first day of pads, and it’s easy to say, ‘This guy can do it, that guy can do it.’ But a guy like Barmore, as disruptive as he is, it’s kind of hard to get that same production. But look, other guys have to step up and treat it like a normal injury, even though it’s not a normal injury. Next man up.”
Mayo acknowledged it will take a group effort to replace the 2021 second-round pick out of Alabama. There's a chance he'll also eventually have to find a replacement for star outside linebacker Matthew Judon, who sat out Monday's practice amid his contract dispute with the organization.
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NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry discussed the Patriots' difficult defensive situation during Monday's episode of Training Camp Central.
"What does that entail? How do you even prepare for that when we're talking about Christian Barmore, who is arguably their best player?" Perry asked. "And especially with issues arising in terms of Matthew Judon's availability, potentially. What do you do on the defensive side to make up for that loss, for however long it is? Is it Daniel Ekuale? Is it Armon Watts, who was acquired via free agency this offseason?
"They don't have a one-for-one sub, which is what Jerod Mayo acknowledged today. I don't know how you replace that kind of player because he could be so disruptive from the interior. It can be so hard to gameplan for that kind of player that it makes things, in my opinion, harder on the rest of the defense when a guy like that -- not just the defensive line, but the entire defense, every single level, when a guy like that is out."
Perry believes that not only does Barmore's absence put more pressure on the defense, but it also puts Mayo in a tough spot as a first-year head coach without the help of defensive masterminds who departed in the offseason.
"I'm just thinking about the X's and O's of it too," he added. "Not only did you lose Bill Belichick, who we know what he can do on the defensive side of things, but you lost Steve Belichick as well, who helped Jerod Mayo in terms of sitting in a dark room and coming up with a lot of these exotic pressures that the Patriots are able to come up with.
"You don't have to do as much of that when you have somebody like Christian Barmore on the field. If he's gone, if he's absent, how much more do you have to scheme up? How much more do you have to lean on your ability to draw things up in the dirt on gameday itself, or leading up to a given week against a particular opponent? And how do they handle that without one of the guys who helped run that defense last year in Steve Belichick?"
Barmore, who turned 25 on Sunday, totaled 64 tackles (13 for loss) and 8.5 sacks last year in his third NFL season. He signed a four-year, $92 million contract extension with the Patriots in April.
Watch the full episode of Training Camp Central below, or on YouTube: