How ‘Prickly’ Christian Barmore Handled Questions About Benching

Christian Barmore finally answered questions about his surprising Week 8 benching. Well, kind of.

The New England Patriots sat the star defensive tackle for the first quarter of last Sunday’s home win over the Cleveland Browns. Barmore entered in the second quarter and went on to post a team-high eight quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus. After the game, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said his job was to “protect the team,” and Barmore declined to speak with reporters — leaving fans with more questions than answers.

Barmore finally fielded questions on Wednesday, but the 26-year-old offered no real insight into why he was benched.

“Yeah, I’ve moved on,” Barmore told reporters, via Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi. “Next question. Let’s focus on the Falcons.”

Giardi then offered this note on how Barmore, who missed most of the 2024 campaign due to blood clots, has handled himself this season:

“Barmore has cast an interesting shadow in the Pats locker room this season. Despite the success — they’ve now won five in a row — he has been prickly with the media and has mainly kept to himself, even around other teammates. We’re only allowed in the players’ space for 45 minutes a day, three times a week, and then in the postgame, so that’s only a part of the entire picture. But that’s what I’ve seen, and others would say the same.”

We’ll just have to wait to learn the full details of Barmore’s apparent infraction, which reportedly was “fairly harmless.” Barmore was one of the Patriots’ best players in the first eight games despite posting zero sacks, with his 25 pressures ranking third-most on the team behind K’Lavon Chaisson and Harold Landry III.

The Patriots will host Atlanta this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.