On Wednesday, the Patriots parted ways with Stephon Gilmore by trading him to the Panthers for a 2023 sixth-round pick.
When speaking to the media (before the trade became official), Bill Belichick didn't give much insight into Gilmore's situation, referring to the statement the team put out shortly before he spoke.
But later in the day, Carolina general manager Scott Fitterer joined "Movin' the Chains" on SiriusXM NFL Radio and provided some color on what happened from his perspective.
"Really, the opportunity kind of came about, we started hearing things about it (Tuesday) night, and then (Wednesday) morning, something came out on the Internet that he was being released," he said. “So Pat Stewart, who is our VP of player personnel, called up to (Patriots director of player personnel) Dave Ziegler, and they started conversations, and as the morning went on, you heard, ‘Hey, teams are getting involved. You may have to trade for him now.’ So instead of just waiting and seeing what happened and waiting for him to be released, we just thought we’d be aggressive and go out and take a shot on him. We just love what he’s going to bring to our organization.”
Fitterer actually lives next door to Gilmore in Charlotte and is looking forward to having him now play for his organization. As for a contract, right now Gilmore will play on his current one -- making $5.8 million the rest of the year -- but that could change.
“We’re open to extending him,” Fitterer said. “We want to get him here, take a look at him, see how he is health-wise, how he fits in. I know he wants to be here. He’s a South Carolina guy. So we’re open to extension talks with him, as well. We can fit him in. … We’re very open to working out a deal.”
Gilmore will face his former team when the Patriots travel to Charlotte to take on the Panthers.
