DT Christian Barmore: Contract details
One of the dominant themes of the New England Patriots’ offseason is strengthening the foundation by retaining their marquee talent for the future. The most recent player taken care of is defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who put his signature under a four-year, $84 million contract on Monday.
Barmore’s contract is massive. It includes $31.8 million in full guarantees and ranks second in franchise history behind only the 10-year, $100 million deal Drew Bledsoe signed in 2000 when it comes to total base value.
As with all things NFL contracts, however, the devil lies in the detail. And those details, as first reported by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, show that Barmore’s contract is not quite what it seems on paper: it is a team-friendly deal that can be considered a major win from an organizational perspective.
DT Christian Barmore: Contract details
2024:
Base salary: $1.822 million*
Signing bonus: $4.489 million*
Salary cap hit: $6.311 million
2025:
Base salary: $10 million*
Signing bonus: $3.6 million*
Roster bonus: $1.275 million
Workout bonus: $225,000
Incentives: $2 million
Salary cap hit: $15.1 million
2026:
Base salary: $12 million
Roster bonus: $1.275 million
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus: $225,000
Incentives: $2 million
Salary cap hit: $17.1 million
2027:
Base salary: $18 million
Signing bonus: $3.6 million*
Roster bonus: $1.7 million
Workout bonus: $300,000
Incentives: $2 million
Salary cap hit: $23.6 million
2028:
Base salary: $19 million
Signing bonus: $3.6 million*
Roster bonus: $1.7 million
Workout bonus: $300,000
Incentives: $2 million
Salary cap hit: $24.6 million
*fully guaranteed
The first thing that stands out is that while Barmore’s deal does run through 2028 and therefore adds four more years on top of his rookie pact, it also altered his current contract. The Patriots prorated his $18 million signing bonus over five years, including 2024. This means that his salary cap number for this season increased by $3.6 million.
The 2024-2025 portion of Barmore’s deal is fully guaranteed, with not just his signing bonus proration but also his salaries falling into that category. Starting in 2026, however, the team has considerable leverage.
That year, Barmore still has a $2 million salary guarantee but the team could exit the pact without much damage. Yes, it would take on a dead cap number of $12.8 million but it would also create gross cap savings of $4.3 million. The third day of the 2026 league year will actually be a key deadline in that regard: that day, his salary guarantee for the season increases from $2 million to $10 million.
Even if the team decides to keep Barmore under contract through that date — and there are no indications why it would not — the subsequent two years bring even more team control: in 2027 and 2028, the signing bonus proration remains as the only guarantees left. In turn, cap savings would go up significantly with the dead cap impact going down.
The guarantee structure is not the only reason why the deal can be considered team-friendly, though.
The Patriots included a combined $5.95 million in roster bonuses, which is the most for any NFL defensive tackle at the moment. On top of it all, the contract’s average annual value of $21 million ranks only 11th among his position group — and is expected to only look better versus a growing market and an ever-increasing salary cap.
New England was able to build in a potential out only one season into the new portion of the pact, but if Barmore plays out the deal and continues his progression it will be tremendous value for the club. Basically, they were able to lock up one of the most promising interior defenders in the NFL — a 24-year-old coming off his best season to date — at a deal that will only look better with every passing year.
