Patriots TreVeyon Henderson, Christian Barmore and Week 9 updates, Digi Mart USA News: Every week during the NFL regular season, Boston Herald columnist Bob Callahan shares five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.
TreVeyon Henderson has been absent for more than a week, listed with an illness on every injury report since last Thursday. Henderson has not been seen in the locker room during media access this week, and one veteran player told the columnist he needs to feel better and come back to the team.
Separately, the columnist confirmed what ESPN’s Mike Reiss shared Thursday on 98.5 The Sports Hub: Henderson’s absence is due to something he is managing, and it may be linked to heightened adversity. “I think there’s been a lot of challenges for him that maybe he hasn’t faced in his young life and career,” Reiss said.
“And so, to me, that all might be tied together to what he’s managing.”
This year, Henderson has already dealt with two ankle injuries and has been outplayed by fellow backup running back Corey Kiner, whom the Patriots acquired via trade in late August. Henderson rushed for just nine yards on three carries in his last game appearance, a Thursday night loss at Chicago on Oct. 22, and he hardly touched the ball in the first half.
Signing practice-squad running back Lan Larison to the active roster last Saturday, rather than elevating him on game day, was perhaps the first sign the Patriots were preparing for an extended absence. It is unclear how long the team expects Henderson to be out, but he is now tracking to miss a second straight game Sunday.
The depth provided by Larison would also allow the Patriots to play in Germany without him next week, and perhaps beyond.
The 27-year-old defensive tackle Christian Barmore is reportedly agitated by his inclusion in a trade report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Last Sunday, Breer described Barmore as “a player that very clearly is available” and cited a fourth-round pick as a price the Patriots would be willing to accept.
The columnist said he considers that unlikely, noting that Barmore’s trade value was in the neighborhood of a sixth-round pick last February, according to two executives he spoke with at the NFL scouting combine.
Since then, Barmore has lost his starting job and his play has waned. Any team acquiring him would also take on more than $6 million in salary.
He is scheduled to make $18 million and $19 million in 2027 and 2028, respectively, though none of that money is guaranteed. If he is not traded, he will be a prime cut candidate this offseason to create cap space.
The columnist also cited Barmore’s nagging knee injury and multiple run-ins with the law, including a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery on a family or household member last year. According to court documents related to that charge, his on-again, off-again girlfriend told police she was fearful of Barmore and his “handlers,” and that Barmore threatened to have his family members assault her.
The Patriots appear to want out of the Barmore situation. The columnist said he is increasingly skeptical they will part with him by Tuesday’s trade deadline unless they are willing to absorb some of his salary, but the question is clearly when, not if.
Drake Maye has been among the league’s top quarterbacks under pressure by nearly every metric, including completion percentage, yards per attempt, success rate and Expected Points Added (EPA) per play. Maye has thrown six touchdowns under pressure this year, more than any player in the NFL.
On Wednesday, he credited his father, Mark, a former college quarterback at the University of North Carolina, for helping him learn to navigate those moments.
“He used to rip me if I started looking down and looking at the rush,” Maye said. “I realized at a young age that you’re just going to have to take some hits and stand in there, and it’s part of this position: getting back up, taking hits and delivering shots.”
Patriots assistant head coach Terrell Williams was the team’s defensive coordinator for one game last year before stepping away following a cancer diagnosis. He now steps into nearly every meeting and corner of the building.
“You quickly realize he’s kind of got his ear to the streets everywhere,” Patriots cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton said.
First-year defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr explained Thursday how Williams has been a friend and mentor to him and many others at team headquarters. “He touches all the players on both sides of the ball to get a feel for them and help them grow,” Kuhr said.
“And especially with these rookies, what they have to go through, he’s just a great sounding board, great resource, gives advice, helps with the game-planning, but also does a good job of saying, like, ‘This is your show.'”
Rob Gronkowski is returning this Sunday to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. The columnist covered Gronkowski for just one season, his last with the Patriots, a Super Bowl campaign in which he was often injured or unavailable.
His final catch set up the only touchdown in a 13-3 win over the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
The columnist said he will always treasure another play: in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game, with 54 seconds left and the Patriots down by four at Kansas City’s 29-yard line on third-and-5, Tom Brady threw a long sideline pass to Gronkowski after an interception was negated by Dee Ford’s offside penalty. Gronkowski leaped over Chiefs safety Eric Berry for a catch that furthered the Patriots’ comeback.
Since Patriots wide receiver Kyle Williams entered the league as a third-round rookie last year, he has led all NFL wide receivers in touchdown percentage, scoring on 29.4% of his career catches (minimum of 25 targets).
