There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore as the NFL trading deadline nears. There’s now also an unconfirmed report that his house is on the market.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated mentioned earlier in the week that the Patriots discussed the possibility of moving the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in the offseason.
Ultimately, the team gave him a $5 million raise by moving money from his 2021 salary to this year. Gilmore was scheduled to earn a base salary of $10.5 million in 2020, but the club increased the salary to $15.5 million.
“They had to move some money from ’21 to ’20 to make him happy this year,” Breer said. “He’ll want another raise next year, so I think when they did make the move to move that money up to ’20, there was an acknowledgement that he might not be around next year. And if he’s not going to be around next year, and you don’t think you’re going to compete for a championship this year, then it behooves you to take a look.”
Bill Belichick was asked this morning about if he expects Gilmore to be on the team’s roster beyond the trade deadline.
“I don’t know anything about those,” Belichick said of the rumors. “Steph works hard. He’s always ready to go. Changes up what he does based on our game plan, who we’re matched up against, the team we’re playing that particular week. He’s a very flexible player that understands what we’re trying to do and how it all fits together and works hard to do his part in it.”
Gilmore finished last season tied for the league lead with six interceptions, returning two of them for touchdowns. He became the first defensive back to win the Defensive Player of the Year award since Steelers safety Troy Polamalu in 2010.
The Patriots are 2-4 on the season and are in 3rd place in the AFC East. They face the first place Bills on Sunday.
Man teams around the NFL could be looking to offload salary before the deadline due to the expected cap drop coming this offseason. So trading Gilmore could become a possibility with another loss. But as of now there’s no real indicator that it might happen.
The NFL trade deadline is at 4 EST on Nov. 3.
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