Stephon Gilmore fuels fire of his return to the Patriots
It’s been reported by various different talking heads that Stephon Gilmore is likely to resign with the Patriots this offseason. But even though that’s the word surrounding Foxboro, we have yet to hear from the player himself in any official capacity. Instead of releasing a statement though, he seems to be doing his talking via social media.
Back on June 26th, he posted this to his Instagram:
Now of course, this could mean nothing. But in the day and age where cryptic social media posts are athletes’ currency, you can’t overlook it. The fingers crossed caption can easily be taken as him hoping a deal gets done. So this post looks like a player who is getting ready to go play and hoping everything works out.
And it’s not like we’re talking about someone who hasn’t used vague social media posts before. Once the season ended and his contract situation came up, he started tweeting some interesting things…
— The Gilly Lock (@BumpNrunGilm0re) May 5, 2021
I use everything as motivation.
— The Gilly Lock (@BumpNrunGilm0re) May 6, 2021
Did Gilly think his name was being “disrespected” by the Pats not paying him what he’s worth? Easy to assume that now considering his pseudo-holdout this year. And if so, it’s pretty clear he’s using said disrespect as motivation.
Then of course there was this retweet that seemingly shook New England to its core.
The plot thickens! Gilmore is clearly well aware he is severely underpaid at his position. Looking at the numbers, you can see why he retweeted it in the first place. And when he’s due to make $7 million in base salary this season, it’s no wonder he hasn’t showed up to the facility yet.
But even with these posts, there’s still that growing expectation that the former DPOY shows up sooner rather than later. Going into 4th of July weekend, Gilmore then posted this picture which had a lot of Patriots fan sharing that optimism.
This is the first post from Gilmore where there’s any Patriot-related content in months. Again, you may think this means nothing, but I would disagree. If Gilmore was still planning on holding out, why would he post something wearing the teams apparel? Any leverage you had would lessen in the team’s eyes. That seems strange to me.
Then there’s the caption: “The Cream always rises to the top”. Seems like words from someone who expects his talent will finally get recognition. And while initially you may think this is him suggesting another team may give him this recognition, why is he wearing Pats clothing then? The caption just reads like someone who saying “I knew my value would be recognized, and it finally has been.” And the Patriots cap leads one to think they are the team he’s talking about.
Now, If you’re someone who doesn’t dive into athletes social media posts this much, then I’m probably coming off as a lunatic. But I don’t know how you can’t read into these posts when all athletes use social media as their preferred way of communication nowadays. Moral of the story is Stephon Gilmore seems to be inching closer and closer to an extension with New England. And that is a very, very good thing for the Patriots.
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