The New England Patriots will be without All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore heading into the 2021 regular season. At first glance, that’s simply because of his roster status.
At the end of training camp, Gilmore was placed on the team’s PUP list and will miss the first six weeks of the season.
He didn’t participate in a single practice during training camp, minicamp or organized team activities this offseason after suffering a torn quad injury that required surgery.
But one also cannot ignore Gilmore’s open discontent with his contract status. Amid that issue, ESPN’s Dan Graziano made a note on Wednesday that the Pats haven’t closed the door on trading Gilmore at some point.
Per Graziano:
What I’m hearing: As of this past week, the Patriots were still open to the idea of trading Gilmore, who now has to miss the first six weeks on the physically unable to perform list. Gilmore is known to be unhappy with his contract, which is up after the season. While there was optimism a month or so ago that he and the Patriots would get something worked out, they still have not.
Graziano’s analysis came in a piece where he speculated that the New Orleans Saints might be a team interested in Gilmore. However, Graziano did not indicate that there has been any contact or trade discussions between the Saints and Pats, he only noted that the Saints could be a fit, in his opinion.
Gilmore had surgery on his injured quad in December but has been able to run and do some football-related activities since late spring.
Gilmore, soon 31, won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2019.
