Christian Barmore returns after absence due to blood clots

Having missed much of the season after being diagnosed with blood clots over the summer, Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore returned to the field Sunday for his first game of the year in the team’s loss. New England vs. the Rams.

Barmore made three tackles while anchoring the interior of New England’s defensive line, where he had made a name for himself as one of the league’s most disruptive forces before the diagnosis put his career on hold. parentheses.

“Blood clots are no joke,” he said on Sunday. “I was very out of breath and it bothered me a lot. Mentally, I had my teammates, the medical team. … My teammates have been really supportive, and I love them all. I told myself that I was not going to lose this battle. I told myself I was going to continue. »

Barmore had an important figure to lean on: Patriots captain David Andrews, who had to sit out the 2019 season due to a blood clot issue.

“This man, DA, is a legend,” Barmore said. “He kept his head up, every time I needed to talk to him, every time I had my head down, he would come close to me, want to talk to me. Especially listening to his story, he just motivated me to keep going even harder, to fight, just to work on myself and become a better man.

Another familiar Patriot with extended time on the sideline is Kendrick Bourne, who returned in Week 5 after an ACL injury suffered last season. Bourne caught his first touchdown of the season Sunday on a big day for two players who spent the summer trying to get back on the field.

“It’s great,” Bourne said of Barmore’s return. “Obviously, I went through my ACL and the process of just being on the lower field, and going through that whole process was tough. I just told him it was great to see him back there. He’s frustrated too, you know, obviously we [didn’t] win, but it’s just that you have to think about the bigger picture.

“So I just told him, you know, continue to be grateful to be there. You know, maybe you haven’t done a lot of plays or whatever, I don’t know. I’m not sure. I’ll watch the movie, but just being there is a start.

Barmore, the 6-foot-5, 315-pound lineman, saw his production explode in 2023. He recorded a career-high 8 ½ sacks, the most by a Patriots defensive tackle since Ray Hamilton in 1977. Patriots saw him as a future. star right out of the gate, signing the Alabama product to a four-year deal worth up to $92 million in April.

Then came the news in July that Barmore would be out indefinitely, with no clear timetable for his return.

While sidelined, Barmore ran into trouble in October after a traffic stop in Providence, where he was seen on body camera footage behaving in a confrontational manner with police. Barmore later apologized for the incident.

Barely a month after the incident, Barmore was back on the field at Gillette Stadium after being cleared by doctors earlier in the week.

“Man, it was a blessing from God,” Barmore said. “First they said I was probably going to miss the year, and that hurt. When they said that [he was cleared]I was really excited, I was anxious, I couldn’t fall asleep because I was so excited.

“[I learned] take nothing for granted. I could have lost my life. When the doctor told me that… I got closer to God, [wondering] why this happened to me, but God makes no mistakes, God brings his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers. I’m a soldier, so I told myself I wasn’t going to let this get me down.