Nick Saban Refutes Criticism About Patriots Draft Pick Christian Barmore

Purely from a talent standpoint, Christian Barmore has a chance to be one of the biggest steals of the 2021 NFL Draft.

But the Alabama product seemingly did not fall out of the first round for no reason.

The Patriots traded up to land Barmore at No. 38 overall, the sixth pick in the second round. After the pick was made, reports began to file in that painted a picture as to why Barmore fell down the board longer than expected. One NFC scout even told Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard that Alabama “barely held him together.”

There might not be much truth to those reports, however. Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban came to Barmore’s defense in an interview with Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.

“We never had any issues here with him at all when it came to structure, whether it was football or academics,” Saban said. “He always worked hard in the offseason program and he did whatever everybody told him to do. We were very structured in regards to academics and he worked very hard at that.”

“I never had a problem with him. He’s a good kid.”

Belichick is closer to Saban than any other coach in the NFL. So if anyone in the league was going to know the full extent of any issues regarding an Alabama player, it would be the Patriots head coach.

And even if there is some cause for concern when it comes to Barmore, Belichick clearly is confident New England’s coaching staff will be to handle the situation.