Just when it seemed the New England Patriots were riding the perfect, storybook wave of momentum toward their return to the NFL playoffs, stuff hits the fan.
Look at Stefon Diggs. Accused of smacking his former chef and trying to choke her during an alleged Dec. 2 incident as a beef over apparent back pay escalated. Really? The go-to receiver is facing a felony charge for strangulation or suffocation.
Consider Christian Barmore. Accused of throwing the mother of his 2-year-old child to the floor and issuing threats during an alleged Aug. 8 argument that stemmed from disagreements about the room temperature and that she was making food. Seriously? The 315-pound defensive tackle is facing a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault and battery.
Two key players, two rounds of allegations that they committed heinous crimes surfaced on back-to-back days this week. Bad timing. Bad optics. The NFL had enough regular season-finale plotlines to set up Week 18, but as 2025 transitioned to 2026, the Patriots have another version of in-with-the-new drama.
At this point, as Patriots coach Mike Vrabel insisted, they are allegations. Attorneys representing both players have flatly denied the accusations.
“We’ve made a statement, we’ve taken the allegations very seriously, and what comes of that, I think then we’ll have another discussion,” Vrabel said during a midweek news conference. “But I don’t think we have to jump to any sort of conclusions right now and let the process take its toll.”
Of course, Vrabel has a vested interest in keeping the players on the field. This isn’t to question the coach’s integrity. Trumped-up allegations happen. Yet it sure sounds like the Patriots might have jumped to some conclusions.
In their Tuesday statement, the team said, “We support Stefon.”
In the Wednesday statement, the team indicated that it was aware of the incident involving Barmore shortly after it occurred. Yet apparently, the team reached the conclusion that whatever happened wasn’t serious enough to remove a key player from the lineup.
Which reminds me: In 1996, the Patriots renounced their rights to fifth-round defensive tackle Christian Peter a week after drafting him because Myra Kraft, wife of the team owner, learned of Peter’s history of violence against women and insisted as much while backlash from women’s groups mounted. Early in Robert Kraft’s ownership, it set a tone for the Patriots standards.
That was a long time ago. Myra, bless her, passed in 2011.
Then again, as Vrabel maintains, these are allegations. It’s just that the nature of the allegations are disturbing enough to raise red flags. Yet unlike the assault on a fan by Pittsburgh Steelers receiver DK Metcalf that was captured on video and resulted in a two-game suspension, it’s difficult to assess when there’s no apparent evidence (at least in Diggs’ case).
You might think Roger Goodell – no stranger to managing sticky fallout from domestic violence cases – would step right in and take the players off the field and put them on the Commissioner’s exempt list while the legal process plays out.
Indeed, that’s a possibility – just not this week, with the worst-to-first Patriots (13-3) hosting the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
According to the fine print of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, a player can be placed on the exempt list, which amounts to a paid leave of absence, when formal charges for a felony or violent crime are forwarded with a grand jury indictment, charges by a prosecutor or an arraignment in a criminal court.
Diggs is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 23 – two days before the AFC title game.
Barmore has an arraignment date of Feb. 3 – five days before Super Bowl 60.
Of course, there’s no guarantee the Patriots will advance to the AFC Championship Game or the franchise’s first Super Bowl since the Tom Brady era. But the way things have gone this season, you can’t call it a pipe dream.
Vrabel returned to jolt New England to prominence ASAP, illustrating just how impactful the right coach in the right situation can be. New England was 4-13 in Jerod Mayo’s only campaign as Bill Belichick’s successor in 2024. Now the Patriots have a chance to seize the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. And while Drake Maye has blossomed into an MVP candidate in his second season – with Diggs assisting that effort with big plays and big leadership – the Patriots snapped Buffalo’s streak of five consecutive AFC East titles.
None of that, however, should matter when weighing the status of Diggs and Barmore.
And no, Goodell doesn’t have to wait on the arraignment dates to make a call. There’s also fine print in that same personal conduct policy that stipulates a player can be placed on the exempt list on a limited, temporary basis to allow time for the league to conduct a preliminary investigation of an alleged crime of violence.
So, what’s happening with that feature of the policy in these cases?
In the allegations against Barmore, first reported by Boston-area television station WCVB, the police report includes photographs the woman provided of her bruises. And the Patriots were aware of the incident back in August? Hmmm.
The team apparently had no qualms about putting him on the field. It makes you wonder what type of evidence is needed – an elevator video, maybe – to have some domestic violence cases hit home.
“Again, allegations,” Vrabel said, “and we want to make sure that the court – that those ongoing court proceedings – and once those are satisfied, then we’ll come to whatever decision that we have to make.”
It’s a decision that goes far beyond the Patriots. Sure, there are nuances.
In the allegations against Diggs, there are no photographs of bruises. No third-party witnesses. It seems to be a classic case of he-said, she-said. Does it matter that the apparent victim didn’t alert police until Dec. 16 – two weeks after the incident – and didn’t decide to press charges until Dec. 23?
Sometimes, it takes a while for victims to come forward. And in this case, there are discussions about a potential monetary settlement.
In the meantime, Vrabel insists the fresh revelations are not a distraction for his team.
Yeah, right. No, it shouldn’t interfere with game-planning and practices. Yet the timing of this is less than ideal for the Patriots, with the playoffs looming. And there’s still some level of energy expended on this by the participants and others inside the organization. So, distraction or not, it’s not exactly business as usual – at least not for everyone.
Said Vrabel, “It’s things we have to handle, and every day there’s distractions, some are smaller than others.”
It’s just that this developing issue has the potential of growing into a much bigger distraction for the Patriots – complete with bad optics.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell