What went wrong in New England?
Per a note from Ian Rapoport, the Patriots have been at a standstill with Gilmore for months now as Gillmore wanted a renewed payday given his recent performance. However, he’s also been injured this year and the Pats were hoping to see just how healthy he really is going forward before offering him such a deal. Gilmore has not played this season due to a quad injury that has kept him on the Physically Unable to Play list.
From @GMFB: The #Patriots released CB Stephon Gilmore after months of contract-related frustration that saw no end in sight. pic.twitter.com/rxeswEr5TY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 6, 2021
Here’s what Rapoport had to say specifically:
“There’s been frustration with the situation surrounding Stephon Gilmore and the New England Patriots, really, for months. He has wanted a contract and the Patriots have really wanted to see him healthy just to make sure that the player they were giving a new contract, or at least a raise to, was worth it.
“In the end, he ended up on the PUP list and now is being released. Earlier this morning, informed Stephon Gilmore that they were moving on from him. They had several teams potentially interested in trading for Gilmore. Again, the health was a concern. This is something that had really been going on for several months”
Adam Schefter also brought some context to the financial side, which is that the Patriots had zero breathing room at this point in the season. If they were hoping to make other moves near the trade deadline of early November or some other such signings, something had to change.
Patriots were roughly $54,000 under the salary cap, needed to clear cap space and now will find themselves with an additional $5.8 million. Stephon Gilmore was in the last year of his contract, so New England doesn’t owe him any more money.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 6, 2021
Gilmore was due a cap hit of $16M this season, so there’s definitely some money to clear here. However, it leaves you to wonder if the Patriots want to stay competitive this season, why are they willing to let Gilmore go at this point when he could be getting healthy? And what moves are they going to be able to add now that will make up for the loss of talent that Gilmore would have been for the team?
Even after hearing some of the explanations, things still don’t make too much sense.