New England Patriots decided to reward corner Stephon Gilmore a for his NFL Defensive Player of the Year campaign last season. According to multiple reports, the Pats gave Gilmore a pay rise of around $5 million.
Gilmore, who has two years left on his deal, was scheduled to earn $10.5 million in 2020. However, with this pay rise, the 29-year-old corner is scheduled to earn $15.5 million. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that he could also earn an extra $2 million based on incentives on top of that.
Stephon Gilmore signed a five-year, $65 million deal with the Patriots in 2017 and was one of the highest-earning cornerbacks in the league at the time. However, the market changed drastically since then, and Gilmore fell out of the top 10 CBs in terms of salary. Since his performance and salary didn’t match, the Pats decided to fix that in order to have a motivated player for the challenging 2020 season.
Gilmore spent the first five years of his career with the Buffalo Bills, where he became a Pro Bowl-caliber corner. However, with New England, he raised his game level even more and established himself as one of the best players in football.
During his time with the Pats, Gilmore helped the franchise win Super Bowl in 2018 while earning two Pro Bowl selections and two consecutive First-team All-Pro honors. His stats since 2017 include 148 tackles, 1.0 sacks, 49 pass deflections, 10 interceptions, and two defensive touchdowns.
