Patriots: Which players had the biggest impact on 2018 season?

Stephon Gilmore

Of course, the Patriots were not entirely bereft of Pro Bowl players this past season. Brady’s inclusion may have been controversial or debatable to some in league circles; Gilmore’s, on the other hand, was anything but. Like Mason, the star cornerback finished the year ranked No. 1 in the league at his position according to ProFootballFocus.

When Belichick brought Gilmore in two years ago through free agency, the move was widely scrutinized. It’s not that the corner wasn’t talented – he’d shown flashes of brilliance during his first five years in Buffalo, but hadn’t exactly set the world on fire either.

So it was curious for Belichick and the Patriots to swoop in and offer a five-year contract worth $65 million, especially since the team had just won Super Bowl LI with solid cornerbacks like Malcolm Butler, Eric Rowe, and Logan Ryan all on the squad. Gilmore’s signing was an especially difficult pill to swallow for Butler, who strongly expressed his desire to be paid like a No. 1 corner; some fans and analysts wondered if Belichick had given the shiny new contract to the wrong player, particularly when Gilmore struggled early for the Patriots in 2017.

We all know what happened next. Butler’s play declined and he gradually fell out of favor with Belichick and the coaching staff, ultimately getting shipped off to Tennessee. Gilmore’s play improved towards the end of the 2017 regular season, then leveled up even further in 2018 as he grew into his shoes as the team’s premier lockdown corner.

A game-sealing interception in Super Bowl 53 was the proverbial cherry on top for Gilmore’s 2018 coming-out party. No other player in the Patriots’ secondary had a better season than Gilmore, and the contract he signed has never looked better than it does today in terms of return on value.