Patriots: Stephon Gilmore injury update is bad but not worst-case scenario

Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore will have surgery to fix a partially-torn quad.

With a contract year upcoming for Stephon Gilmore and a potential rebuild on the way for the Patriots, it seemed both parties had encountered an absolute worst-case scenario on Sunday in Miami.

Just before halftime in a low-scoring game, Gilmore’s subpar 2020 nearly took a disastrous turn, as he appeared to tweak both knees in coverage in the type of non-contact move that portended major damage to one (or both) legs.

In the postgame, the Pats announced that the prognosis wasn’t what was originally feared, and Gilmore might not have even been suffering from a leg injury after all.

But on Monday afternoon, it was revealed that Gilmore would go under the knife to fix a partially-torn quad. Luckily for both parties, though, neither knee was damaged, and he would likely be at 100% well before training camp in 2021.

This is excellent news for both player and team.

The Patriots must still consider trading Gilmore this offseason, especially as his career seems poised to trend downwards before too long. Though plenty of money is coming off the books that will allow the Pats to address their other deficiencies with or without a Gilmore trade, they have ready-made corners on the roster that can step into the secondary — and will have to pay JC Jackson at some point like a No. 1 corner.

As for Gilmore? He’ll get out relatively unscathed, and will be able to retain his lateral quickness. We couldn’t have said the same thing with any certainty yesterday based on how the injury looked.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year did not have a season he’ll remember nearly as fondly this time around, complete with the requisite COVID drama and dinner party/house-selling questions that nobody asked for.

At least, though it’ll end on a low note, it won’t be the lowest possible one.

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