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The New England Patriots under Bill Belichick have had some curious personal decisions in the past, but Stephon Gilmore’s predicament takes the upper hand.
It’s hard to imagine getting less value for a player who is at or near the top of the league at his post. Think about the trades for which Belichick was criticized before this. He traded Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick; Chandler Jones for Jonathan Cooper and a second; Logan Mankins for a fourth round and Tim Wright; and Richard Seymour for a first. These are all significantly better than Wednesday’s trade with the Carolina Panthers. The best thing you can say about that decision is that Gilmore didn’t go to an AFC contender that’s going to crush you in the playoffs, although I’m sure the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. has now circled on November 7. its schedule.
There are several factors as to why this is the worst of all Belichick decisions, but the most important is that we all knew it was coming. Gilmore and JC Jackson will both be free agents after this season, and it was going to be impossible for the Patriots to sign the two starting cornerbacks. We knew it, they knew it, everyone knew it. Instead of switching from one of them in the offseason, however, the Patriots decided to keep them both.
Jackson has looked like a real No.1 corner this season, which means he will be paid accordingly next offseason. This will force the Patriots to make a tough decision on the proposed restricted free agent, but they should never have made Wednesday’s decision on Gilmore.
I’m sure you can cite March as the reason the Patriots were forced to move on. They don’t have a ton of ceiling space anymore because they gave it to all the free agents now on the books. But they knew exactly what their cap space would look like in the future. There was no reason not to trade Gilmore during the draft. I’m sure the offers they got for the 31-year-old this weekend in April might not have been to their liking, but I’m also sure they were all better than a pick. round six in 2023. Trying to wait for the best possible return they got the worst possible return. Belichick is generally better at reading the market than that.
The other thing to consider is that Gilmore wanted, and deserved, a new contract. With the Patriots unable and unwilling to give him more money after last year’s $ 4.5 million advance, a trade made sense. There was almost no reason to keep him, especially since you would get a chance to see if Jackson had what it took to be CB1 in New England. You got to see him, but only because Gilmore started the season on the PUP roster because he was injured / hanging on.
It’s hard to understand how the Patriots ended up here. They saw the writing on the wall for at least a year. They had a reset season in 2020 and start a rookie quarterback in 2021. And yet they refused to quit a player who was coming out of a quad injury and wanted a new contract.
New England has no one to blame for this situation other than itself. The defense played well without Gilmore, but that’s not the goal. The point is, the organization had a valuable asset, knew it was going to lose value, and continued to hold onto it anyway.
Not having Gilmore makes the team worse, but not coming close to a good comeback for him makes the problem worse.
Pat is a host of The Patriot Nation Podcast. Interact with him on Twitter @plane_pats
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