New England Patriots Signed Stephon Gilmore to Finally Replace Aqib Talib

Does the New England Patriots signing of Stephon Gilmore finall replace what they lost when Aqib Talib left?

The New England Patriots made a move this offseason that took almost every NFL observer by surprise when they signed former Buffalo Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore to a huge contract in free agency. With restricted free agent Malcolm Butler not able to reach a long-term deal with New England, the Patriots wasted little time in inking Gilmore at the start of free agency.

What has not been answered is why New England made this out-of-character aggressive move in free agency. The answer is in their recent past.

For the Patriots, Gilmore represents the cornerback who got away: Aqib Talib.

After the 2013 season, the Patriots lost Talib to the Denver Broncos when John Elway paid Talib a massive six-year $57 million contract with $26 million in guaranteed money. The Patriots clearly wanted Talib back but would not commit the money or years to a cornerback with hip injuries, off-field issues and already having served a suspension.

New England replaced Talib in 2014 with free agent Darrelle Revis, as the long, athletic number one press cornerback. Obviously that worked out well with a Super Bowl title. However, Talib has shined in Denver and was arguably the best cornerback in the NFL during the past two seasons. Revis the mercenary left and the Patriots were fortunate to have Butler.

However, Butler is not the prototype cornerback sought after by Belichick. The Patriots’ rumored interest in Seattle’s All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman this offseason further emphasized Belichick’s interest in bigger, longer cornerbacks capable of locking up the bigger receivers in man-to-man coverage.

Stephon Gilmore is six-foot-one just like Talib. Although Talib is larger at 205 pounds to Gilmore’s reported 190 pounds, both are stronger than they appear and are not afraid to mix it up in run defense. Both are fast, strong, and long-armed ball-hawks and are capable of matching up and containing bigger wide receivers in man-to-man coverage.

Having played against the Patriots these past five seasons, Belichick has plenty of game tape and game-planning of Gilmore’s abilities while playing in a bad Buffalo defense. What Belichick has seen from Gilmore is a player similar to Talib who can be plugged into the New England defense and team with Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, and Duron Harmon in a talented secondary.

So what was the realization that led the Patriots to Talib as the prototype in the first place? To realize the Patriots’ plans in the defensive secondary, look no further than the defense sported from 2009 to 2011.

From 2001 to 2008, the Patriots’ dynasty was built on the backbone of a defense with ball-hawking undersized cornerbacks, mobile and hard-hitting safeties, dynamic multi-faceted linebackers, and a run-stuffing defensive line. Players like Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, and Asante Samuel were standouts who embodied the Patriots’ style of play which locked down the run, was aggressive at the line of scrimmage, and presented a layered passing defense to baffle offenses with Belichick’s 3-4 zone defense.

Spurred by then Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian lobbying the NFL Competition Committee, the NFL tightened up the illegal contact rule. With defensive holding and interference calls climbing, the quarterback passing efficiency increased league-wide. Teams turned to high-powered passing attacks and Belichick’s defensive style was rendered obsolete.

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The Patriots put the burden of carrying the team on the offense and Tom Brady’s right arm while the defense transitioned to players like Brandon Meriweather, Gary Guyton, Brandon Spikes, Tully Banta-Cain, Darius Butler, Kyle Arrington, James Sanders, Jermaine Cunningham, James Ihedigbo, and more supporting Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo, and Devin McCourty. These big, plodding defenses were exposed in the playoffs losing in the Wild Card round after the 2009 season to Baltimore, the Divisional round after the 2010 season to the Jets, and falling to the Giants in the Super Bowl after the 2011 season.

Amazingly, the Patriots reached the Super Bowl after the 2011 season after having trotted out Julian Edelman as slot cornerback, Antwaun Molden, Nate Jones, and Sterling Moore at cornerback during the AFC Championship game. However, that season also was a transition season as Belichick brought in Mark Anderson and Andre Carter as 4-3 defensive ends and began moving away from the 3-4 defense.

The 2012 season brought in Chandler Jones as a pure 4-3 defensive end in the first round of the NFL Draft. Adding Talib via trade during the season, switching Devin McCourty to free safety, and turning to undrafted rookie cornerback Alfonzo Dennard opposite Talib gave the Patriots a defense able to focus on taking away the passing game with tight man-to-man coverage with an athletic free safety over-the-top while bringing pass rush from the defensive ends.

This defense finished ninth in 2012 and tenth in 2013 in points allowed and only the injury to Talib in 2012 against Baltimore in the AFC Championship and again in 2013 against Denver in the AFC Championship game kept the Patriots from moving on. With Talib in those two games the Patriots allowed just three points; with Talib injured and on the sidelines they allowed 51 points.

Those injuries, altercations with teammates in Tampa Bay, his four-game suspension for performance-enhancing substances, off-field incidents with teammates and family led to his exit from Tampa Bay. The Patriots got him cheap for two seasons, but failed to pony up the big dollars to keep him from moving to Denver.

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Aqib Talib is the clearly the “one-who-got-away” from Bill Belichick. Belichick was always highly complementary of Talib. In fact, before the Denver game this season he referred to Talib as a “one-of-a-kind” talent. Belichick also turned on Wes Welker after the AFC Championship loss to Denver and Welker’s illegal pick (never even called a penalty) knocked Talib from the game calling it “one of the worst plays I’ve seen”.

Bill Belichick has clearly found his replacement to Aqib Talib at long last: With Stephon Gilmore, he clearly has perfect cornerback in place for his defense going forward.

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