The New England Patriots and Stephon Gilmore’s camp have been fairly quiet about their demands over the past few weeks. Fortunately, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler has provided multiple updates on this contract dispute.
During an appearance on SportsCenter last week, Fowler said that he believes negotiations between Gilmore and the Patriots will ramp up before training camp.
“The Patriots and Gilmore know they can intensify contract talks sometime in the next few weeks. And I’m told that Gilmore has largely not expected to be traded throughout this process because he knows the Patriots have made moves with Gilmore in mind,” Fowler said. “They haven’t gotten a cornerback to replace him. And as one source told me, ‘Do the Patriots really want to go into Week 4 against Tom Brady without their top cornerback?’ And so things are slow right now, but I expect those sides to ramp up negotiations sometime before training camp.”
Well, it sounds like Fowler hit the nail on the head with that report.
On Thursday afternoon, Fowler reported that Gilmore and the Patriots plan to sit down before training camp to discuss a new deal.
Fowler added that Gilmore’s trade market hasn’t been robust because New England didn’t do enough to shore up its depth chart at cornerback. In other words, the Patriots can’t afford to deal Gilmore right now.
Per @JFowlerESPN on SportsCenter:
The Patriots and Stephon Gilmore plan to sit down before training camp and potentially hammer out a deal. There hasn’t been any trade traction around the league, because the Patriots didn’t do enough to shore up the CB position.
— Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis) July 8, 2021
Gilmore struggled at times during the 2020 season, but that could be due to the fact that he was dealing with a few injuries.
In 2019, Gilmore had 53 tackles and six interceptions. If the Patriots are going to give him a new contract, they’ll want to see that type of production out of him this fall.
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