The Patriots have traded cornerback Stephon Gilmore to the Panthers. In exchange, the Panthers will send a 2023 sixth-rounder to New England. 
Gilmore was set to be released by the Patriots, but Bill Belichick & Co. managed to find a trade instead. The 31-year-old will now help replace first-round pick Jaycee Horn, who is out with a broken foot. Gilmore, the 2019 Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year, now headlines a Panthers CB group with Donte Jackson, former top-10 pick C.J. Henderson, A.J. Bouye, and Rashaan Melvin.
Gilmore will be eligible to play after Week 6, pending the status of his quad injury. That means he could debut as soon as Week 7, when the Panthers face the Giants in New Jersey.
Gilmore spent his first five years with the Bills before moving on to the Patriots in 2017. He went on to win a ring with the Pats in 2018 and took his game to a whole new level in ’19, en route to DPOY honors. After notching a career-high six interceptions, Gilmore wanted a new contract to reflect his performance and the dramatic uptick in the CB market.
The Pats — in classic Belichick fashion — resisted. They’ll move forward with J.C. Jackson and Jalen Mills as their top two CBs with Jonathan Jones in the slot. They also have 2019 second-rounder Joejuan Williams in the mix, plus the recently-acquired Shaun Wade.
Now, Gilmore has a prime opportunity to shine with the 3-1 Panthers. Barring an extension, he’ll play out the remainder of his five-year, $65MM contract before testing free agency in the spring.
Panthers have a solid and deep CB room. Nice pick up
Damn. Steal by the panthers. If Horn returns healthy they are looking good for a playoff run with that secondary.
Poor guy
Poor guy? The panthers have a decent team
The panthers are saying if your a corner back and your team don’t want you then come on down. If everyone comes back healthy that’s a GREAT corners and CJ guarding teams slot receivers
Dang, great move for Carolina. It seems like a poor return for the Pats, but this definitely will help the Panthers.
Horn and Gilmore both went to USC, so they have connections that are semi-local. Whether that makes Gilmore more willing to sign another deal to possibly finish his career in Charlotte, we’ll see.
Cheap today, expensive tomorrow. 6th rounder for a top CB. The trick is signing him to multi year deal. May never see himine up with Henderson but it would be a solid duo if they can?
they wont need too, if they’re smart.
Helps having him close to his hometown. Even if they don’t resign him 6th rounder for a great player for a potential playoff run is worth the trade imo.
Do they really want to sign a 31 year old corner who wasn’t worth more than a 6th rounder to a contract when he thinks he deserves a new high dollar contract that reflects the new corner market? Sounds like another player who’s ego played them out of stardom (See Le’Veon Bell…Melvin Gordon to a lesser extent). Be thankful for the $65 mil an play out your contract!
If the panthers had an elite QB like Mahomes, Brady, Wilson, Rodgers, etc, i think they might have a top 3 roster in all of football. Maybe only the Bucs would be better than them. So with Darnold at the helm, i think they are a top 10 team.
In NFC you have the Bucs, Cowboys, Packers, 2 teams from the NFC west and then the Panthers slotted in there in the top 6.
Great moves adding Henderson and Gilmore to compete with the offenses i just mentioned above
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the roster is a QB away from the top two in football, but I do agree with your assessment, especially in terms of naming the playoff picture in the NFC.
The trick for Carolina, as it pertains to this trade, is to decide who is now expendable from their cornerback room. Odds are that it would be Donte Jackson, (or Stephon Gilmore if they don’t get a deal done and he’s just a rental). Jackson isn’t that bad a corner, but after bringing in three new faces, he’s likely the odd man out.
More prof pats need to move on from Bill at least as the GM are secondary is trash and you spent all that money in the offseason and now you leave this team with a big hole for a 6th rounder what a clown
I think 31 other teams would like to have that circus come to town.
Big hole in the secondary? How is trading a guy who has 1 year left on his contract and not been on the field this year leaving them with a big hole? I agree that apart for JC Jackson they need some secondary help (and even he isn’t looking great now that he is covering the other teams #1). They obviously don’t plan on resigning Gilmore and the 6th was apparently the best offer (at least from a team they were willing to deal him to).
The only reason I would not have dealt him would be that they could’ve probably gotten more in the form of a comp pick for losing him. Only time will tell for that though.
Unless his name is Deion Sanders I’m not signing any cornerback who will be 32 in the first year of the New contract.
It seems like Carolina has been making a billion additions this off-season.
Damn looks like I overpaid by a ton in my Madden franchise lol
Who cares about who’s expendable or there next year? The Panthers are under new management and it shows. They are making very good moves to be relevant. A 6th round pick for an All Pro in his prime is an awesome move. Its shows the roster that the people in charge are committed to winning.
Qckappa –
NEWSFLASH: 31 years old is not “in his prime” for an NFL corner.
The NFL trades are always crazy. I’d think Gilmore would get a 1st rounder maybe a 2nd, but a 6th? I am officially announcing that I am no longer a candidate to be an NFL GM