On the heels of the N'Keal Harry trade, a lot of the recent Patriots chatter has centered around New England whiffing on several high draft picks in the Bill Belichick era.
While those criticisms are absolutely justified, the Patriots' early-round drafting in recent years hasn't developed into a total dumpster fire.
Let's look at last year, for example. New England might have landed its starting quarterback for the next decade-plus in Round 1 and its second-round pick started to look more and more like a steal as the 2021 season unfolded. Christian Barmore became a legitimate force in the trenches for the Patriots, and Pro Football Focus believes the 22-year-old defensive tackle is poised for a big leap in Year 2.
From PFF's Mike Renner:
Defensive tackle is right near the bottom of the list among positions where you can expect a rookie to hit the ground running. The physical learning curve going from manhandling teenagers to doing the same against grown men is massive. Even the greatest defensive tackle in modern football history, Aaron Donald, managed a meager 44 pressures as a rookie. He has averaged double that in his seven seasons since.
So, when a second-rounder like Barmore racks up 48 pressures for the Patriots as a rookie, the football world should take note. Even scarier, we already saw him look like a different player in the second half of last season. He went from a 63.5 pass-rushing grade in the first eight weeks of the season to an 82.6 pass-rushing grade across the final nine. The latter figure was good enough for fifth best among defensive tackles over that span.
If Barmore improves, he will be a problem that offenses have to game-plan around very shortly.
Not only does Barmore possess quite a bit of raw talent, but it also appears he has the desire to be great. The Alabama product immediately set his sights on improving as an NFL sophomore following the Patriots' Wild Card loss in January and he's set goals for himself well before the start of the upcoming campaign. Those kinds of actions can be appreciated by any NFL organization, but especially New England.
The next step in the process for Barmore putting together a breakout season will come next week when the Patriots open training camp in Foxboro.
