With the New England Patriots’ mandatory minicamp underway, cornerback Stephon Gilmore appears to be holding out. Gilmore plans to skip all three days of the minicamp, per multiple reports, and has already skipped New England’s voluntary workouts.
Gilmore is slated to earn $7.5 million this season. He told the media in May that he was going to let things work themselves out in regards to his contract talks.
Gilmore can be fined a total of $93,085 for missing the mandatory minicamp. Nevertheless, he has his teammates in his corner. Safety Adrian Phillips expressed support for Gilmore in speaking to the media on Monday afternoon.
“I support my brother,” Phillips said in a video conference. “I wish he was here, but I support him all the same. What he has going, whenever he gets back, he’ll let you know how that went. But that’s my guy. We’re brothers.”
Special teams ace Matthew Slater also weighed in.
“That’s a situation that I don’t want to get too far into. because it’s frankly none of my business and I don’t have a full understanding of what’s going on there,” Slater said. “Obviously, you support all your teammates whether they’re here or not. You with them well, hope they’re doing well physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Hope their families are doing well.
This could be a major storyline throughout the rest of the offseason. The 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year has been a key piece of their defense since he arrived in New England.
