Two weeks after being diagnosed with blood clots, Patriots defensive lineman Christian Barmore watched Tuesday’s joint practice between New England and the Philadelphia Eagles from the sidelines.
It was a positive sign for the 25-year-old, who had been evaluated and treated at a hospital in Massachusetts. Fellow defensive lineman Davon Godchaux mentioned that it was the first time the team had seen Barmore since his health issue.
“The most important thing is that he’s in great spirits. That’s my teammate, my brother,” Godchaux said.
Godchaux understands the difficulty of missing time on the field, having torn his ACL during his senior year of high school. Patriots center David Andrews can relate to Barmore’s situation, as he missed the entire 2019 season due to blood clots in his lungs.
“It was good to see him. I remember going through all that stuff. I think it’s good for him to be around the guys. He’s probably missed it,” Andrews said.
Players from both the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles valued Tuesday’s practice session.
“Felt good to compete against another team,” Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson said. “It’s great to gauge ourselves against someone else.
We’ve been seeing the same defense for weeks. Going against someone who hasn’t seen our plays and seeing how they react, now it’s about putting it in our iPad and studying it.”
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said Tuesday was a productive day for his team.
“There was good energy on both sides of the ball,” Graham said. “I know we have some stuff to work on, but I thought the guys were focused. Coming out and seeing the crowd definitely got us into it.”
Both head coaches — New England’s Jerod Mayo and Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni — made it clear that there would be zero tolerance for fights during practice.
“You don’t fight in a real game. If you fight in a real game, you get fined. You get kicked out. It’s the same thing here,” Mayo said.
“My message to the players is, if you get in a fight out here, if you’re a starter, you’re going to play the whole preseason game. If you’re not a starter, you won’t play at all. That’s kind of my mindset with that,” Mayo added.
