In a surprise move, the Patriots have released Stephon Gilmore.
Everyone was aware of his contract issue from the offseason that has lingered into the regular season with him being on PUP. The thought was he would come back when he was eligible -- after Week 6 -- and then make $7 million over 11 games and he'd be OK with that.
Evidentially, that wasn't the case.
The release appears to be salary cap related, as according to ESPN's Adam Schefter the Patriots were roughly $54,000 under the salary cap, but will get $5.8 million in cap space back by releasing the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year.
But, there has to be more to the story than just that. There are other ways to recoup salary cap money that don't involve a star player like Gilmore.
Maybe Gilmore wasn't going to come back off PUP without a new deal and Bill Belichick didn't see it ever getting resolved. So, instead of it becoming a distraction in a few weeks he just let him go now to avoid all of it.
It certainly isn't a great look for the Patriots not getting anything in return for a player who won Defensive Player of the Year just two years ago, and the team reportedly had trade offers last year at the trade deadline and again this past offseason.
Sure, the value wasn't going to be great for a 31-year-old in the last year of his contract coming off a quad injury (which reportedly is fully healthy now), but getting something is better than nothing.
At 1-3, the move doesn't send a great message to the locker room. Getting Gilmore back was going to help a defense that was lacking depth in the backend, although Jalen Mills has performed better than many expected over the first four games.
New England will now go with JC Jackson, Mills, Jonathan Jones, Joejuan Williams, Shaun Wade and Myles Bryant (practice squad) as cornerbacks the rest of the season.
It certainly is a decision that leaves more questions than answers. Belichick will address the media later Wednesday, but it's unlikely a lot of these questions will actually get addressed.
Meanwhile, Gilmore is now free to sign with any other team and will likely have a good amount of interest.
