Patriots: Who will lead the team in interceptions this season?

2. Stephon Gilmore

With all due respect to Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, and new-arrival Michael Bennett, Stephon Gilmore is probably the best player on the New England Patriots’ defense overall. He’s a seven-year veteran with two Pro Bowl nods under his belt already, and he’s still just 28 years old.

Gilmore came over from the Buffalo Bills in a hotly-debated free agency signing during the spring of 2017. Few fans questioned his talent level then, so much as they wondered why Bill Belichick and the Patriots had just given Gilmore five years and $65 million when they already had a shutdown corner in the form of Malcolm Butler.

Fast-forward through the turbulence of Butler’s final days in New England and the infamous Super Bowl LII benching, and Gilmore is now arguably the best cornerback in the NFL.

While his interception numbers are somewhat modest – he only had a pair of picks in each of his first two seasons in Foxborough – he did add on another two interceptions in the postseason this past year. Memorably, he had the game-sealing interception off Rams quarterback Jared Goff in the closing minutes of Super Bowl LIII.

Gilmore also had a career-high 20 passes defensed in 2018, and he played and started in 16 games for the first time since his rookie year with the Bills. As noted earlier, he also made ProFootballFocus’ Top-10 list of cornerbacks last year in terms of passer rating allowed, checking in at No. 10.

Though Gilmore might be the best all-around player on the Patriots’ defense, as well as a worthy candidate to lead the team in picks this year, there’s actually one other player who we think has better odds to finish 2019 atop the pecking order…