Report: Stephon Gilmore Receives Top NFL Honor

Stephon Gilmore earned First-Team All-Pro honors for the first time in his professional career.

The official announcement was made on Friday, and this just makes the cornerback’s year even greater. Stephon Gilmore finished with 45 tackles, 200 passes defended and a couple of interceptions. According to stats, Gilmore allowed catches on just 46.7 percent of his targets. The 20 passes defended are actually career-high for Gilmore as he is the fifth Patriots player to reach this mark in the team’s history. As you may have seen this season, Gilmore guarded top pass catchers like Antonio Brown, Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, and many others.

“He’s had a great year and he’s been just so solid. It’s tough to complete the ball on him. We feel that way in practice. I’ve played with a lot of good corners and he’s right up there with the best of them. He knocks the ball away, intercepts the ball, makes the quarterback pay. He’s physical, good in the run game, good in zone, good in short, intermediate, deep. I mean, he’s all-around just been a great player for us,” quarterback Tom Brady said of Gilmore.

“He’s great. As a safety, he makes us a lot more aggressive. I’ll be shifting my eyes to where I need to focus at knowing Gil’s got that guy on lock. I don’t have to worry about the ball going over there. I can focus on everything else,” Patriots safety Duron Harmon said of Gilmore after the game against the New York Jets in Week 17.

However, Gilmore does not like to put much shine on himself. He said it was team work. “I don’t like to talk about myself. You know that. Film don’t lie, so I’ll let other people say that,” he said after the Week 17 game.