Is Stephon Gilmore a Hall of Famer? An ex-Patriots CB has strong take

Is Stephon Gilmore a Hall of Famer? An ex-Patriots CB has strong take originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots have had some pretty good defenses over the last 20 years, and an elite cornerback has often been a critical part of that success.

Ty Law is probably the best example. He won three Super Bowl titles with the Patriots and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019. Darrelle Revis is one of the best cornerbacks of all time, and he won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots in 2014 -- his only season in New England. Aqib Talib is another excellent cornerback who starred in Bill Belichick's defense.

The latest example was Stephon Gilmore. The Patriots signed him in 2017 and he played four-plus seasons with the franchise before it traded him to the Carolina Panthers in October of 2021. Gilmore helped the Patriots defense dominate the high-powered Los Angeles Rams offense in a 13-3 Super Bowl LIII victory. He had an interception late in the fourth quarter that pretty much sealed the victory.

In 2019, Gilmore won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, becoming one of just two cornerbacks to win it since 1994.

Should we view Gilmore as a future Hall of Famer? Ex-Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan thinks so.

"Somebody I’ve been watching a lot in the league and study his game and that’s Stephon Gilmore," Ryan said earlier this week on NFL Network. "Gilly Lock is a clamp. I think he had a great season last year, and honestly, Gilly’s been doing this for a long time. He’s one of the rare guys that you can lock on a guy in push coverage. We really haven’t seen that since Darrelle Revis -- the ability to shut down a side of the field. Press man-to-man every play, he’s making the receiver earn it. He doesn’t fear them. And he got a Defensive Player of the Year.

"That is really hard to do at the DB position. Every year, the Defensive Player of the Year is just another pass rusher. ... This guy is special. For you to get a Defensive Player of the Year at DB and be doing it at the level you’ve been doing it, on an island, that’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer."

Gilmore has a pretty good case for the Hall of Fame. He's been a top-tier cornerback for most of his career, which began in 2012. His Hall of Fame resume could get even better in 2023 if he has a strong season for the Dallas Cowboys.