Stephon Gilmore has had a near-Hall of Fame career in the NFL, but it’s been far from conventional. Despite being a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro, he has played for a whopping six teams. And with free agency ahead of the 2025 campaign, he could make it seven this year.
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Gilmore spent his first five seasons from 2012 to 2016 with the hapless Buffalo Bills. His career finally took off when he flipped to the AFC East rival New England Patriots in 2017. That would prove to be an absolute rollercoaster of a year for the cornerback. After playing in no playoff games in his first five years, he was suddenly part of a perennial Super Bowl contender.
The 34-year-old recently joined The Money Down Podcast to discuss that journey. After talking about how the Patriots’ 2017 AFC Championship Game win over the Jacksonville Jaguars was one of the most physical games of his career and giving that team their flowers, he was asked about the epic showdown they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52 two weeks later.
“It was tough because I went from not making the playoffs in five years and then going to the Super Bowl. Finally, get here and lose it, and then lose it basically defensively. We gave up 40-something points, I think,” Gilmore said.
It was possibly the best Super Bowl ever played, with big play after big play. But unfortunately, the Patriots, in a rare sight, did not come out on top. Bill Belichick’s defense, led by Gilmore and a bevy of other veterans, had no answer for the red-hot Nick Foles and his Eagles offense.
They gave up 41 points, 538 yards, and allowed the Eagles to go 12-for-18 on third and fourth down. But Tom Brady and the Patriots offense also had a day, putting up over 600 yards. The game featured a Super Bowl record 18 plays of 20-plus yards, only seven of which came from the Eagles. And yet, the defense gave up more points and ultimately took the blame for the loss.
“It was tough man… it was a tough pill to swallow just because defensively we felt like we didn’t handle our business like we should have. I told myself after that loss, if I ever get back here, we ain’t letting that happen no more. So after the game, that was my mindset.”
Stephon Gilmore stayed true to that. The next year, he was named to his second Pro Bowl, earned his first First-Team All-Pro nod, and helped the Patriots win Super Bowl 53 over the juggernaut L.A. Rams offense. In that 13-3 win, perhaps the worst Super Bowl in history, the Patriots defense got all the credit instead of the blame.
Gilmore went on to win Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 and stayed on with the Patriots until 2021, when he was traded to the Carolina Panthers. He then signed one-year deals in successive seasons with the Colts, Cowboys, and Vikings.
Funny enough, both the Eagles and Patriots have won Super Bowls since that epic February Sunday seven years ago. And ironically, both had to do it by getting past a combination of Sean McVay and Andy Reid. The Patriots beat Reid in the 2018 AFC Championship and McVay in Super Bowl 53; the Eagles beat McVay in the Divisional Round and Reid in Super Bowl 59 this past year. All’s well that ends well.
