TUCSON, Ariz. — The New England Patriots designated second-year defensive tackle Christian Barmore to return from injured reserve this week.
Will he be ready to play Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders? That’s to be determined.
Head coach Bill Belichick said the Patriots will wait to make a call on Barmore until they see how his body responds to his first few days back on the practice field. The 2021 second-round draft pick has missed the last seven games with a knee injury suffered during a Week 6 win over the Cleveland Browns.
“Well, we didn’t do a whole lot on Wednesday,” Belichick said Friday before the Patriots’ final practice at the University of Arizona. “We had a good day (Thursday), so we’ll kind of see how he’s doing (Friday) after that. It’s usually the next day. A lot of times guys go out there the first day and they’ve been rehabbing, but then they go out and practice, which they haven’t been able to do, and then after that workload. Is there a setback? Is there an opportunity to move ahead? What do we have to manage and so forth?
“So (Friday and Saturday) will be days where we determine how that process is going, which is normal. It’s not any different for him than anybody else.”
Getting Barmore back would be a significant boost for the Patriots defensive line. The Alabama product was arguably the NFL’s best rookie D-tackle last season and was drawing frequent double-teams before his October injury. He’d bolster a unit that’s set to face league rushing leader Josh Jacobs on Sunday also would give the Patriots another potent pass rusher to pair with the likes of Matthew Judon, Josh Uche and Deatrich Wise.
There’s no guarantee the Patriots will activate Barmore this week, however. Per NFL rules, they have until Jan. 4 to add him to the 53-man roster before he would revert to IR and be ineligible to return this season.
“You know how it is,” Belichick said. “When you haven’t done something for three or four weeks and you come back out there and do it, the moment of truth is the next day, not the day you do it. … So we’ll see over the next 24 hours. We’ll see how it is (Friday) and see how it is going forward. But again, that’s just the normal procedure. I think it’s come back the first day, feel OK, and then the second day, sometimes you feel better, sometimes you don’t.”
