Numerous reports have indicated how New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore feels about the finances set to come his way ahead of the 2021 season.
Simply, the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year is not happy with his current contract and it ultimately led Gilmore to skip Patriots’ offseason activities, including mandatory minicamp earlier this month.
Well, those reports seemingly were validated with a simple tweet from Gilmore on Tuesday afternoon. Gilmore’s response came to a now-deleted tweet from CBS Sports, which listed the highest paid defensive backs by average annual value.
“Oh ok ….” Gilmore tweeted.
Gilmore was not included in the top 10 let alone being atop the list with Los Angeles Rams’ Jalen Ramsey, Baltimore Ravens’ Marlon Humphrey or Buffalo Bills’ Tre-Davious White. While those three players are owed $17 million or more in AAV, Gilmore has a base salary of merely $7 million for 2021. It’s far less than what Gilmore deserves.
A main reason his base salary is that low, you may recall, is because the Patriots gave Gilmore a $5 million raise ahead of last season. That money ultimately was borrowed from his 2021 salary.
Now, Gilmore, who turns 31 in September and is coming off a partially torn quad that sidelined him for the final two games of last season, is looking to refill the bucket. Especially given the fact he’s an impending free agent.
Still several reports have expressed optimism that Gilmore will return to New England.
NFL Media’s Mike Giardi was pretty confident that Gilmore will be starting for the Patriots Week 1. And that came after ESPN Patriots reporter Mike Reiss acknowledged two weeks ago that Gilmore and the Patriots actually might be in a relatively good place. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler followed that up by noting how New England haven’t made any moves to replace Gilmore.
Solving the Gilmore conundrum should now be viewed as priority No. 1 for the Patriots. And it’s rather simple — either they pay him or figure out what to do next at cornerback.
