Getty Stephon Gilmore, former Patriots CB
For a time this offseason, the Patriots were considering a reunion with one of the best defensive players they’ve employed in the past decade—defensive back Stephon Gilmore, who spent last year with the Colts before the two sides agreed he needed a new home.
According to a report in The Athletic, once the Colts put Gilmore on the block, “The Cowboys and Patriots showed the most interest in acquiring (him) in a trade, according to league sources.” It was the Cowboys who eventually pulled off a deal, sending out a fifth-round draft pick to bring in Gilmore in a mid-March transaction. Because of the relatively low price Dallas paid to get Gilmore, it can be assumed that New England’s interest in him faded before the Colts accepted the Cowboys’ offer.
The Patriots instead turned their focus to bolstering the defensive backfield in the draft, using the No. 17 overall pick to take cornerback Christian Gonzalez out of Oregon. The team also used its final two picks, in the sixth and seventh rounds, to choose DBs Ameer Speed and Isaiah Bolden, the cousin of former Patriots running back Brandon Bolden. Third-rounder Marte Mapu is a hybrid linebacker who will play safety, too.
Patriots Focused on Adding Youth, Size in Secondary
Gilmore’s experience and talent would have been welcome in what is expected to be a top-tier defense this season. Last year’s Patriots ranked 10th in the NFL in points allowed (20.4), and eighth in quarterback rating allowed (83.5), and throwing Gilmore into the mix would have made them all the more dangerous.
But Gilmore is 32 years old, and his Patriots career ended with a bad injury—a quad tear in Week 14 of the 2020 season, which caused Gilmore to open the 2021 season on the PUP list. The Patriots released him that winter to free up salary cap space, and he wound up signing with Carolina.
It might have made for a nice story had the Patriots been able to bring back Gilmore this year, especially given his place in team history. It was late in Super Bowl LIII that Gilmore intercepted a pass from Rams quarterback Jared Goff to former Patriot Brandin Cooks, a play that sealed the Patriots’ most recent championship.
Flashback to the time Stephon Gilmore sealed a Super Bowl victory with an INT on Jared Goff. 🏆
Instead, New England opted to go big-and-young with its defensive backfield. All of the players the Patriots drafted in the secondary are listed at 6-foot-2 or taller, while all but two of the veterans listed in the team’s Top 3 on the depth chart are 5-foot-11 or shorter.
Gilmore Happy With Cowboys Opportunity
As for Gilmore, he told The Athletic that he is happy to have landed in Dallas, where he will join a defense that was eighth in the NFL in passing yards allowed (200.9 per game) and fifth in points allowed (20.1). The Cowboys are in the midst of a serious Super Bowl drought, though, having last appeared in the NFL’s finale in 1996. In all, Dallas has five Super Bowl championships, in eight appearances.
“It’d mean a lot,” Gilmore told The Athletic about winning in Dallas. “There’s no better feeling than winning that big thing. To do it here would be even bigger. …I was really excited. This was one of the places I wanted to come, probably my No. 1 place, so I’m happy we got it done.”
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Patriots ‘Showed Interest’ in Reunion With Former All-Pro Cornerback: Report