Who has the leverage between Patriots and Stephon Gilmore?
originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston  Stephon Gilmore has a compelling case that his $7M salary for this season is a cut below what elite corners make. We would have to ignore the fact that, in his four seasons with the Patriots, hes made $56.625M and averaged a healthy $14.165 million so far in order to work up any indignation on his behalf, but still; in a vacuum, his salary is a fraction of what corners of similar ability will make this year. But even if Gilmore has a case, the Patriots have the money and Gilmore is going to withhold services until he gets a bump, he really isnt dealing from a position of strength. Hell be 31 in September and is coming off surgery on a partially torn quadriceps muscle that sidelined him in the final weeks of the 2020 season. If the Patriots are even willing to give him a raise as he enters the final year of his deal, the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year is going to need to demonstrate hes fully good to go. And its hard to do that when youre not in Foxboro. That hes one of the five best cornerbacks in football, the improved Patriots roster means the team has a chance to compete with the best in the AFC again and without an elite corner, that chore gets way harder. As Belichick once said to me when I asked about a disgruntled player who was threatening to hold out, Whats he gonna do, open a garage? Its not like Gilmore is going to trade himself to Kansas City. Play here and get paid. Or dont. This whole scenario was easy to envision when Gilmore ended the 2018 season with a key pick in the Super Bowl and the DPOY in 2019. At that point, he was past the halfway point in his deal and lesser players were signing contracts worth close to $20M APY. We started writing about it last July. It was noted when the team gave him a salary bump during training camp last year. We tracked it all up to and through the trade deadline. Story continues  We pointed out in March that the time was right to get Gilmore a new deal if the Patriots so chose. Sources around Gilmore have consistently told me he doesnt want to leave New England. He was mystified and taken aback by talk of him being traded last fall. Patriots Talk Podcast: Deion Branch goes deep on Julio Jones, Cam Newton | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube  Meanwhile, given Belichicks readiness with a weather excuse on Monday morning for any minicamp absences, it seems hes not looking to turn up the heat on the situation either. We might have heard something like, Its minicamp. Mandatory. Been on the schedule for months. Dont know why anyone would be surprised by it. Well work with the guys who are here.  Truth be told -- and contrary to the breathlessness with which we will cover it -- a minicamp holdout in June isnt a crisis. An absence at the start of training camp wouldnt be either. Well, then its getting real inconvenient. Because when a player doesnt finish a season because of an injury to one of his money-makers, he needs to get those things back in game shape by playing. And his bosses need to see theyre in game shape. So, again, not a lot of leverage for Gilmore to get a full-blown three-year extension. If hes even lobbying for that. In a way, this feels like old times. In the first of Bill Belichicks two decades in charge of the Patriots, contract squabbles were omnipresent. Im working on an updated list of the top 50 Patriots under Belichick and 15 of the top 30 guys had pretty serious -- and some very public -- issues with what they were paid. Most of them were homegrown guys who were approaching second contracts that wanted to be paid among the top players in the league. The Patriots routinely hard-lined them. Its hard to summon much indignation on his behalf. And given the lack of any statement -- cryptic tweets dont count -- maybe he isnt feeling as wronged as those players rightly were. The Patriots will leave the light on for him.