Bump Gilmore's salary a little or Ship him off.

The Patriots secondary has been built around shutdown corner Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore was so good that in 2019 he won defensive player of the year. It's hard to say if Gilmore fell off in 2020 or if he benefited from the boogeymen defense in 2019. 

Gilmore only played in 11 games and 62% of the snaps in 2020. In 2019 he played in 94% of the snaps of all 16 games. Five games can make a huge difference statistically.

In 2020 he had 37 tackles with a forced fumble. He deflected 3 passes and had 1 interceptions. Gilmore allowed 57.1% of the 49 targets to be completed. Over the past 3 seasons, Gilmore has seen a slow increase.

Gilmore turns 31 in September and is set to make $7.5 Million in 2021. If Gilmore wants more than a $4 Million raise in 2021, the Patriots should take whatever they can get for him. With one exception.

As previously stated, Gilmore is the backbone of the Patriots secondary. If the Patriots are offered a player for Gilmore and that Player comes with a $15 Million contract like an OBJ, the Patriots should in that case just pay Gilmore. Then again, the Patriots may have trouble bringing in a pass catcher but even so, there's no guarantee anyone including OBJ would pan out in New England. 

Furthermore, If I'm correct on my Salary Projections going off different sources, I'd rather see the Patriots bring in both DeSean Jackson and A.J. Green for a total of around $10-$11 million before going after OBJ. If they can meet Gilmore at a four million dollar pay raise, that's $14 million and the team can breathe a little easier, Not having to rely on JC Jackson to be the number one yet. If not, they must lock up J.C. Jackson, who's also gonna want Gilmore money.