Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uncertain: Christian Barmore’s Patriots Status in Jeopardy?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Christian Barmore is one of the best players on this Pat's roster, but his return in 2026 is not guaranteed. Let's dig into why. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in good old New England,

Starting point is 00:00:33 been covering the Pats for the past 60s. years. I'm also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with, you guessed it, Nick Cattels, and I'm a sports radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots, my friends, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. On today's show, not one, not two, but three Pat's defenders were named to PFFs, all playoff team. We'll break that down in segment three. In segment two, extending Christian Gonzalez should be one of the easiest decisions of this offseason. But speaking of Christians, let's get to Christian Barmore first because he might not be as

Starting point is 00:01:16 quote unquote safe on this roster as some might believe. There's a surprising question for this off season. And that question is, will Christian Barmore be sent packing by Mike Vrable in this front office? Mike Giardy, Boston Sports Journal, wrote this recently. The Pats have an out on Christian Barmore this office. season. Barmore will earn a base salary of 12 million while carrying a cap hit of 17.1 million and a dead cap value of 12.8 million. If the Pats choose not to exercise that out, Barmore gets 20 million

Starting point is 00:01:50 in each of the last two years of the deal. His contract runs through 2028. Another note from Mike Giardi, teammate Milton Williams, gets 23 million in cash next year and his cap hit doubles from 14 million to 28.4 million. It's a lot of money for the interior defensive line. The Pats have the money, Garty writes. I'm not suggesting that, but I do wonder if they take a long, hard look at Barmore. Ryan O'Leary from Fan Sided Musket Fire. He writes, the out and Barmore's deal is impossible to ignore entering the new league year.

Starting point is 00:02:28 And with $10 million in additional guarantees set to trigger on March 14th, Barmore's contract could be under the microscope. Now, the idea of moving on from Christian Barmore, I think is at least worth a conversation. We should talk about this. We should think about what this would all entail. And I think it's worth the conversation because we start off the field.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Off the field is 100% an issue with Christian Barmore the past couple of seasons. Let's not forget the 2024 incident in Providence between Barmore and police. let's not forget that he has an arraignment on March 9th for a domestic allegation. And that could be a big time issue. Again, that is on March 9th. The Patriots are looking at this, you know, guaranteed additional 10 million and guarantees set to trigger on March 14th, just five days later.

Starting point is 00:03:29 What's also an issue when you talk about off-the-field stuff is something that has been often overlooked when we look back at that magical run of 2025. And that is the fact that Barmore was benched at the beginning of a game. I don't know if you remember this, but Barmore was benched for a first quarter of a game this year by Mike Vrable. And maybe I'm missing somebody. Maybe I just forgot somebody. But Barmore is the only example of a player that I can remember this past season being

Starting point is 00:03:59 punished by the head coach via a benching. It wasn't the entire game, but a statement was made by Vrable. And Vrable handled it with class, handled it somewhat diplomatically after the game. But don't get it twisted. Vrable was not happy with Barmore. There was something that Barmore did that forced the hand of the head coach. Vrable had to look at whatever Barmore did and said, I can't justify starting him.

Starting point is 00:04:30 I have to set the precedent with the rest of this team. I've got to sit him to start this game. So when you look at the 24 incident, you look at the arraignment coming up in just a couple of weeks on the domestic. You look at him being benched, Barmore being benched for a first quarter by Mike Vrable. Those things matter when you want to set the culture. And I'm not saying that Barmore is a problem in the locker room. Let's not get crazy.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Let's not aggregate this segment out there in social media. All I'm saying is the case that I'm making here is when you, you're entertaining the idea of moving on from Christian Barmore, the off-field stuff has to be part of that conversation. Also part of the conversation is the depth of the interior defensive line. You've got Milton Williams. Kyrie's Tonga is an unrestricted free agent. I don't think he's going to cost you a bunch of money. I think you could bring him back. You've got Corey Durdon. You've got Joshua Farmer. You've got Leonard Taylor. You've got Eric Gregory. Now, everybody aside for Milton Williams, you would stack,

Starting point is 00:05:30 obviously behind Barmore. But when you're looking at this roster and you know you've got Milton Williams coming back and he is a beast, then you say to yourself, do we have enough depth underneath Milton Williams, especially if we re-sign Kyrie's Tonga to at least look at the idea of getting rid of Christian Barmore? And it's not just you walking into 2026 with what you have, because if you move on from Barmore, you can, of course, bring somebody else in. not multiple people in. And that's when we get into the options of this off season. When you look at

Starting point is 00:06:05 the free agents, let's just look at the over 30 club. Calais Campbell feels like he's 50 years old. All he does is play great football. If he decides to play one more season, you have to imagine he would want to join a team that has a shot at making a deep run. So you've got Callias Campbell. You've got DJ Reader out there as well. You've got David Anyamata from Atlanta. He's out there. and that's just the over 30 club. There are other interior defensive linemen core pretty good. I wouldn't say that they're at the level of Christian Barmore, but they're pretty good. And you also have the draft at the interior defensive line.

Starting point is 00:06:45 Just some numbers for you. The athletics consensus rankings, they have five defensive tackles in their top 50. And pro football focuses draft rankings from late December, they actually had five Interior D linemen in their top 50. and Dane Bruegler just dropped his top 100 before the combine, and Dane Bruegler has nine defensive tackles in his top 100, which, by the way, is tied for the fifth most per position group. So this draft, we talk about the edges,

Starting point is 00:07:17 it's really the entire defensive line. This draft is deep on the defensive line, whether you're talking outside or inside. So that's when you start to think. The off-field issues, you're going to have some options this off season to address that position. So do you look at Barmore and say with the money that we can open up, the things that we can do?

Starting point is 00:07:41 We're going to move on from him. Now, I will tell you, I am not cutting Barmore. I'm not cutting him. I'm not releasing him. I'm not just making a money move. I'm not doing it. I love the Milton Williams Christian Barmore combination in the middle. I think both guys are very talented.

Starting point is 00:07:57 I think Williams is obviously the more. more talented, but let's not overlook Barmore. Barmore was seventh and pass rush win rate for Interior Defensive Lyman, according to ESPN in 2025. My own plus minus was good in the playoffs for Barmore. I thought he played well. But the trade, the trade option is interesting. I'm not going to cut Barmore, but we can have a conversation about trading him.

Starting point is 00:08:23 Trading him saves money. Nicole Yang wrote about this at the Boston Globe. if the Patriots cut Barmore after June 1st, they would free up $11.5 million in cap space while creating $5.6 million in dead money. If they trade him, they would free up $13.5 million while creating $3.6 million in dead money. So a trade, if you're going to go down the path of moving on from Barmore, I think the trade is the best I idea. But the return has to be good. The return has to be really good. If I'm dealing Christian Barmore, I want a second round pick plus, not just a second. I want a second plus something else. At least. That's what I'm looking at. I would take a second round pick and a fourth round pick

Starting point is 00:09:21 for Barmore and like a fifth or something like that. That's something I would at least entertain. Maybe I would even ask for more. Another option, let's bring back yesterday's episode. You know, Max Crosby, I talked about, I don't think the Patriots want to deal good players and I don't think they want to, but I have a developing opinion. I would be willing to deal good players if the return is good enough. The return matters. If I get a second round pick plus more picks for Barmore, when I know this draft is deep at defensive tackle and I know I can go out there or maybe I've already gone out there and signed one or two defensive tackles, veteran guys, to go along with Durdin and Farmer and Taylor and Gregory and of course Milton Williams.

Starting point is 00:10:04 I would entertain that. I would not turn that down immediately. Another option, though, to get back to yesterday's episode, maybe just maybe you could trade Christian Barmore and picks for Max Crosby. Maybe that's an avenue that you can take. That would make some sense. Now, would the Raiders want to do it? Not sure.

Starting point is 00:10:24 But Barmore in a pick or two, that would make some sense. That would make some sense, I think, for the Raiders, because you're getting an impact player and you're getting a couple of picks. And it would make sense for the Patriots because you're losing Barmore, but you're replacing him on the defensive line with Crosby. So just food for thought. Again, I am not pushing the panic button. I don't have extreme urgency to get rid of Christian Barmore.

Starting point is 00:10:48 I would not cut him. but if there's a trade that makes sense for now and the future, I would not be totally against it. Barmore might not be safe, but one guy should be for quite a long time, and that guy is Christian Gonzalez. We'll talk about that next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

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Starting point is 00:13:44 Always like the thumbs up. It helps us with the algorithm. Don't forget to throw a comment in. Would you be willing to give up Christian Barmore like I would? If the return made sense, I would be open to that idea. Let me know how you feel. Throw a comment in and don't forget to subscribe. We are now at 8,940 subscribers, 60 away from our goal, the next goal at 9,000.

Starting point is 00:14:06 All right. I'm not messing around with Christian Gonzalez. I am not messing around with the cornerback. I am picking up his 50-year option. and I am getting to the negotiating table with his agent, and I am extending Christian Gonzalez this offseason. It's going to cost the Patriots. He's going to be looking at some pretty decent money.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Doug Kide of Boston Herald wrote that the average per year to any deal for Gonzalez starts at $30.1 million. If Gonzalez signs a three-year deal, the Patriots would be fortunate. If it's for $96 million, the floor for a four-year deal is likely around $1 million. $128 million. A more realistic deal, Kydides, could come in around $100 million for three years or $144.4. Now, of course, I have to bring this up, so nobody gets confused here. The new contract would not kick in until after the 2027 season.

Starting point is 00:15:03 So you still have Gonzalez on his rookie deal for 2026 and 2027. The big money on the cap starts hitting for 2028. So keep that in mind. To me, it's a no-brainer. It's a no-brainer decision. If I'm Mike Vrable, if I'm the front office, I am extending Christian Gonzalez. He is hands down a blue chip outside cornerback number one. He is a top five to six guy at the position.

Starting point is 00:15:32 You just don't randomly find dudes like that for the most part. They're not easy to acquire. They're not easy to draft. And when you get one, you want to wrap your arms around that. that corner and make sure you keep that cornerback. Carlos Lopez. I mean, when you look at this season, Los Talks Pats posted this on Twitter, Gonzalez's regular season stats, according to pro football focus.

Starting point is 00:15:58 He gave up the third lowest catch rate in the NFL at 46.1%. He only gave up 357 yards. He only gave up 69 yards after the catch, which was the third lowest in the NFL. He had seven past breakups and he allowed one single solitary touchdown. That's the regular season. He was excellent in the postseason. I'll have more on that later. When you look at Gonzalez, another thing we have to mention in credit is the fact that he continues to improve when it comes to flying downhill, tackling, playing with physicality.

Starting point is 00:16:35 Taylor Kyle's of CL&S posted this on Wednesday. when you look at the lowest missed tackle rate among cornerbacks with a minimum of 400 defensive snaps, Christian Gonzalez was number one. Number one, his mistackle rate was 1.2%. The person who was closest to him was Rock Yassine from Detroit at 4.3, not even close. And Gonzalez finished with 74 tackles this past year, which was fourth most among cornerbacks. So it's not as if, again, thanks to Taylor, Taylor Kyle's with those numbers, it's not as if Gonzalez's tackle rate was super low and it was a really small sample size.

Starting point is 00:17:19 No, his tackle rate was great. The best in football with a minimum of 400 defensive snaps at the cornerback position. And he had the fourth most tackles at his position in the NFL. He had a lot of opportunity to tackle and he took care of business. That was one of the biggest questions with Gonzalez coming out. out in the draft was could he be physical, could he tackle? He has answered that question in spades. We're talking about somebody who is a top-tier elite player at a premier position in the NFL. When you look at edge, you look at cornerback, you look at quarterback, when you

Starting point is 00:17:59 have somebody who is top-tier, when you have somebody who is at least in the conversation of being elite at one of those positions, it is your job to keep that guy on the roster for as long as as humanly possible. Gonzalez is one of those guys. His man cover ability, we've seen it time and time again, opens up the scheme versatility on the defensive side of the football for the Pats. Look at the postseason.

Starting point is 00:18:23 The ability to have Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis, along with Marcus Jones, play man coverage that allowed the postseason playbook to be wide open. And it allowed for Zach Corr, who is the new, defensive coordinator. We'll talk about that a little bit later. It allowed Zach Corp to get a little bit exotic with his blitzes and be much more aggressive, which helped the pass rush. I mean, it is really tough on offenses. If you have the defensive backs, the Patriots have, and if they can have a better four-man rush in 2026, that would make this defense that much better. Can you imagine you go out,

Starting point is 00:19:05 whether it's via trade, via free agency, via the draft, all three. Imagine if you go out and you upgrade at the edge, like we expect the Patriots to do this offseason. They are well aware their four-man pass rush wasn't good enough. Greg Bedard was talking about it on our podcast before the season kicked off. They are well aware they need help at the edge. They know it. So imagine if you upgrade at the edge to go along with the cornerbacks that you have,

Starting point is 00:19:31 the man coverage that they can play, you're getting four-man pass rush and you know that Zach Corr can mess around and spin the dial against any offense. That would be an incredibly difficult defense to deal with. And finally, you just continued the precedent of taking care of your best young players. Michael Wen, who signed an extension. He was one of your best players this year. Ramandre Stevenson signed an extension. He was one of your best players this year.

Starting point is 00:20:00 Even Christian Barmore signed an extension. He was really good this year. Take care of your best young players. It's not always going to work out, but it's smart business. Gonzalez should be a patriot for the next five to seven years without much thought at all. Get it done. Pay the man. He played some of his best football in the biggest games this year.

Starting point is 00:20:32 Speaking of the biggest games this year, three pats make PFFs all play. off team. Find out who they are and what PFF had to say about each one coming up. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, it's Matt Derry from the Lockdown Lions podcast. The people I love depend on me. If I'm gone, the financial responsibilities don't disappear. I didn't want my family figuring things out during the hardest moment of their lives. That's why I knew only one place to go. I chose life insurance through my friends at Ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy.

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Starting point is 00:21:33 lockdown NFL. In as little as 10 minutes, you can get the free quote and up to $3 million in coverage at ethos.com slash lockdown NFL. That is, ETHOS.com slash lockdown NFL. Ethos.com slash lockdown NFL application times and rates may vary. Congratulations to Zach Corr. As we mentioned for a minute there in the last segment, he has been promoted as the defensive coordinator. This is not a surprise. When we found out that Terrell Williams was going to be elevated to a different position,

Starting point is 00:22:06 within the coaching staff, it was pretty much a fate of compil that it would be Zach Corr as the next DC. We did a little bit of a short last night to talk about it. So congratulations to Zach Corr. It was the right move. Again, if you want more thoughts. We really covered that in the Terrell Williams staff shakeup episode from late last week. The postseason, no doubt left questions about the offense.

Starting point is 00:22:33 And those questions will continue throughout this off. And hopefully Mike Vrable and the rest of that front office and think tank for the Patriots, they address those needs. But there weren't many questions about the defense. And when you look at their performance, you would have to imagine there were some guys that graded out pretty well analytically and statistically. And yes, there were. Pro football focus released their all playoff team rankings. it will not surprise you.

Starting point is 00:23:06 Nobody from the offense made it. But the Patriots did have not one, not two, but three defensive players on this list. Milton Williams was on the PFF all playoff team. Here's what PFF wrote. His playoff run still one to remember. The force of nature defensive tackle earned an 82.2 grade across four playoff matchups and led all defenders, all defenders in the postseason with 23 pressures. Williams generated at least four pressures in every game throughout the playoff run.

Starting point is 00:23:40 In particular, he stepped up with six pressures and a sack in the Super Bowl, earning a 73.5 PFF grade and a 91.3 PFF pass rushing grade. He didn't finish all the plays, but I thought Milton Williams was really good in the Super Bowl. Again, would you like to have that scramble back? Absolutely. Would you like to have that mistackle for loss against Kenneth Walker back? Absolutely. But overall, beginning to end, Milton Williams, a beast. And he was obviously an excellent free agency decision by this team,

Starting point is 00:24:13 nonstop motor, leader. And he did it in Philly. He did it again this year. Just like Christian Gonzalez's biggest games, he comes up and he makes some plays. How about Craig Woodson? Craig Woodson made the PFF all playoff team. Here's what PFF wrote. Woodson was a presence not to be messed with.

Starting point is 00:24:32 His 84.3 grade was tied for the best among safeties. He's a rookie. And the Patriots rookie fourth round pick was omnipotent in the secondary. Nice word. His 10 stops were the most among all safeties in the postseason. His 91.2 run defense grade led all safeties. His 29 total tackles were the best of the position. Woodson was just as good in coverage,

Starting point is 00:24:55 permitting just four catches on 14 targets for 28 yards while grabbing an interception and breaking up two passes. was one of my favorite players to watch on film as this season progressed. And I thought he was absolutely terrific for the vast majority of this playoff run. You can finally look at safety and say at least one guy, and we talked about Jalen Hawkins, I'd bring him back. But you could at least look at Craig Woodson and feel like you have a bright future at safety. He was terrific in the Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:25:27 And just continue to improve all season long. He plays with violence. He plays with intelligence. Looks like a great pick by the Patriots on that Saturday morning, round four in Craig Woodson. Let's finish with Christian Gonzalez. I wanted to give some space

Starting point is 00:25:47 because we just waxed poetic about Gonzalez in the last segment, but let's talk specifically about his postseason and his Super Bowl, because yes, Gonzalez was named to the PFF all-playoff team. PFF wrote the following without Gonzalez, the Patriots would not have made it to the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl, Gonzalez kept New England in the game.

Starting point is 00:26:08 His 86.8 grade was third among all cornerbacks. And though Gonzalez was the most targeted cornerback in the postseason, he allowed just 11 of 30 passes to be caught for 141 yards. Gonzalez also grabbed the game ceiling interception against the Broncos, the AFC championship game, and his six pass-breakups paced all playoff defenders. Let's get back to Carlos Lopez. Carlos Lopez did a great job of posting some stats from football focus, pro football focus, regarding Gonzo Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:26:39 He had 40 coverage snaps. He was targeted five times. He allowed one catch for 16 yards. He had three pass breakups, did not give up a touchdown. And his coverage grade was a team high 86.8 in. the Super Bowl. Really good. Really good postseason. Really good in the Super Bowl. And when you're talking about the Super Bowl performance by Gonzo, he was going against not every single snap, but he played many snaps against Jackson Smith and Jigba, who was seen as one of the best receivers in football.

Starting point is 00:27:23 And for all intents and purposes, he shut down JSN. Now, Jackson Smith and Jigba had a shot at a passed down field when it was kind of like a broken off route and there was like a scramble drill wasn't really on Gonzalez but Gonzalez was really really really good again big game player and here's the best thought of all Milton Williams Craig Woodson Christian Gonzalez right now as I speak they are all under 27 years old so we're talking about not only players that stood up in the biggest moments and played at a very high level. We're talking about three guys who are under the age of 27. Williams turns 27 on April 6th.

Starting point is 00:28:11 So all three of these guys easily walking into or not even hitting their prime yet. Not too shabby. I'll take it. You add a couple of other guys to this defense for 2026. Wow. I mean, this could be a very stout defensive team next season. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an Everydayer.

Starting point is 00:28:38 Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button, of course. Always hit that like button and subscribe. And if you're looking for a gift for someone, make it easy. Check out the Everydayer Club. Add free episodes of this show, exclusive Discord server access, and more.

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Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uncertain: Christian Barmore’s Patriots Status in Jeopardy?

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