Pats explored trading Gilmore — twice

Imagining the New England Patriots without Tom Brady is no longer necessary. Week 1 of the NFL season gave us the stark reality of Brady in another uniform.

There were other players you probably couldn’t have pictured not wearing a Patriots uniform in Week 1 of the season. Dont’a Hightower, Patrick Chung and Marcus Cannon, among others, took the opt-out on 2020 and will watch from home. Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and Ted Karras were at Gillette on Sunday wearing [...]

Imagining the New England Patriots without Tom Brady is no longer necessary. Week 1 of the NFL season gave us the stark reality of Brady in another uniform.

There were other players you probably couldn’t have pictured not wearing a Patriots uniform in Week 1 of the season. Dont’a Hightower, Patrick Chung and Marcus Cannon, among others, took the opt-out on 2020 and will watch from home. Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and Ted Karras were at Gillette on Sunday wearing Dophins’ uniforms.

Now imagine the Patriots’ 2020 season without Stephon Gilmore.

With the reality of all those other situations emotionally punching people right in the mouth, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported on NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots Pregame Live something that would have knocked everyone out in New England.

Breer said he was told the Patriots looked into trading Gilmore, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

The New England Patriots — who were hemorrhaging talent for what seemed like the entirety of the offseason — looked into trading their best player.

Breer reported that the Patriots did this on two separate occasions. The first came during the NFL Draft, where a player of his caliber would fetch a bounty of picks; the second was during training camp where Gilmore’s contract was a constant topic of conversation.

So why would the Patriots try to do something as absurd as getting rid of the most talented player on their roster?

It, like everything else, is complicated.

It doesn’t make sense that the Patriots would get rid of Gilmore solely on the theory that getting rid of a shutdown cornerback who was the best defensive player in the NFL generally makes your team worse.

But Bill Belichick has been known to do a thing or do that doesn’t seem to make sense.

If you recall the Patriots cap situation around the NFL Draft, it was poor to negative poor. New England had under $1 million left on the cap before the team won settlements involving Antonio Brown and Aaron Hernandez that cleared $7.79 million in July.

Unloading Gilmore could have gotten the Patriots a bevy of picks, or at least a few that took place in the upper half of the first round, a place where Belichick usually strikes gold.

The Los Angeles Rams gave the Jacksonville Jaguars two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder for Jalen Ramsey in October last season. That leads one to believe Belichick could have procured at least that much out of someone desperate for a corner of Gilmore’s ability. The Raiders playing Kansas City twice a season perhaps? Maybe old friend Matt Patricia in Detroit?

With no deal done, that means either those offers didn’t come or the asking price was too high.

By the time training camp rolled around, the Patriots were swimming in cap space. So why would they choose then to trade Gilmore?

This is a little tougher to figure out.

One reason could be Belichick felt good about his depth at cornerback. Jason McCourty was ranked by Pro Football Focus as one of the top 20 corners heading into the 2020 season. J.C. Jackson seems more than capable of being a No. 2 and Jonathan Jones is one of the best slot corners in the league.

Remember in 2003 when Belichick traded Lawyer Milloy? Trading Gilmore during camp would created a similar scenario. It happened before so thinking it could happen again isn’t totally out of reach.

Another reason to factor was Gilmore’s contract. He was set to make $10.5 million this season, which seemed to be OK right up until the Rams gave the aforementioned Ramsey a five-year contract worth $105 million.

Gilmore had missed a portion of camp for "personal reasons," then missed practice on Sept. 10 with hamstring issues. On Sept. 11, he signed a five-year, $65-million extension, upping his 2020 base salary to $15.5 million.

Clearly stacks of cash are the best way to cure hamstring issues because Gilmore was back at practice that day.

Patriots fans could have lived their lives without knowing there was a chance he could have been wearing a different jersey on Sunday instead of his Patriots blue. If it happened, it would have added to a season that was already going to be strange before a ball was kicked off.

Instead, they got to see Gilmore show up for work and do what he does best, picking off Miami’s Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second quarter. Gilmore’s talents are undeniable and now, fans can be comfortable that he’s not going anywhere for a while.

erueb@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @EricRueb