New England Patriots: Bill Belichick needs to pay Stephon Gilmore

With the first stage of their offseason program come and gone, very few clouds remain hanging over the New England Patriots after a productive and impactful free agency and draft.

Unfortunately, the darkest and most difficult cloud to deal with still remains, with All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore continuing his holdout.

In recent weeks, reports have surfaced that Gilmore and the Pats may be able to resolve their contract disagreement, which surely led to many sighs of relief across New England. However, caving to a holdout is something that Bill Belichick almost never does, so would he break that trend with Stephon Gilmore?

In my opinion, he has no choice but to do so. In the latest example of how it’s a new era of New England Patriots football, Belichick needs to swallow his pride and pay a valuable player asking for more money, instead of kicking him out the door. He simply can’t afford to lose  Gilmore, and here’s why.

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It all comes back to Bill Belichick vs Tom Brady

Of course it does.

At this point, we all know that for the last few years of the dynasty it became Bill vs Tom instead of Bill and Tom. It became a competition instead of a collaboration. And while the Patriots are much improved from last year, they realistically are not at a championship level yet.

This year’s Patriots may very well be good, but it’s unlikely they’ll be great. Bill knows this, and it means one thing: Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the Patriots Super Bowl.

After all the backlash Bill received for letting Tom Brady leave, and rightfully so, Bill’s only chance to scrape together even the smallest of moral victories is to beat Tom head-to-head.

That’s where Gilmore comes into play. While he may not be the very best cornerback in the league, as he was only two years ago on his way to winning Defensive Player of the Year, he’s at least in the conversation for being in the top five. Having Gilmore on the field slots the rest of the New England Patriots defensive backfield into their proper slots.

Do you want to go up against the greatest quarterback of all time without your No.1 corner? I certainly don’t. Simply put, a satisfied Gilmore is the Patriots only chance of slowing down Brady and Bucs. And I think this year, that’s all that Bill cares about.

Without Gilmore, New England Patriots offseason splurge is wasted

Yes, Gilmore may not be quite the same player he was two seasons ago. There were moments last year where it was clear he had lost a half-step, a quarter-step even, but enough that it was visible after his otherworldly 2019 season. It doesn’t matter.

Gilmore is still the best cornerback the Patriots have available to them. He remains the keystone to the New England Patriots defense, which will have to be the strength it was two seasons ago for this team to return to the playoffs.

I just don’t see any scenario in which Bill Belichick hands out the most guaranteed money in free agency in NFL history, and then trades the linchpin of his defense. As we’ve all heard for decades, he’s a defensive coach, who clearly understands the importance of having a true CB1 locking down one side of the field.

The list of corners who have played under Belichick here in New England reads like a Madden franchise team: Ty Law, Asante Samuel, Aqib Talib, Darrelle Revis, and now Stephon Gilmore. He must know that letting Gilmore get away would be a mistake, and it’s a mistake I don’t see him committing.

Either way, Belichick has a mess on his hands that requires cleaning before the start of the regular season. He should do right by both the player and the rest of the team, and give Gilmore a pay raise for the 2021-22 season, but will he?

New England Patriots fans should hope so, because the team’s success this season hinges on it.