Stephon Gilmore missed the Patriots’ mandatory practices last month, and his contract situation appeared clear: He was not happy.
Gilmore, who turns 31 in September, is set to make a base salary of $7 million in 2021, the final year of the five-year, $65 million deal he signed with New England in 2017.
Last season, the Patriots paid Gilmore $4.5 million from this year’s original salary to bring his compensation more in line with the league’s other top corners. Will the Patriots need to restructure his deal or find someone willing to make a trade for the cornerback?
Gilmore commented Tuesday on a tweet from CBS Sports about the highest-paid defensive backs in the NFL by average annual value (the tweet was later deleted).
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Gilmore’s average yearly earnings of $13 million didn’t crack the list.
“Oh ok,” Gilmore wrote.
Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore did not attend mandatory minicamp in June.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) June 29, 2021
Here, he references a chart of the highest-paid DBs in the NFL (based on average annual value) in which he doesn’t crack the top 10. pic.twitter.com/Lqm7DHm0Xk
It’s worth noting Gilmore’s contract was among the top cornerback deals when he signed it. The agreement also included $31 million fully guaranteed and $40 million worth of injury guarantees, as well as a good chunk of front-loaded money.
Although Gilmore’s contract was among the top deals, many cornerbacks have zoomed past him in terms of AAV. He’s now ranked 12th in the league at his position.
Gilmore didn’t have his strongest season in 2020. It certainly wasn’t on par compared with 2019, when he won defensive player of the year honors. But he was still a Pro Bowler and stood out as one of the Patriots’ best secondary players before he partially tore his quad and ended up on the IR.
If the cornerback doesn’t report to training camp in late July, he will be subject to massive fines for each day he misses.
Information from previous Globe stories was used in this report.