Cowboys Want to Sign Stephon Gilmore, But CB's 'Open' To Move to Patriots

Dallas Cowboys Want to Sign Stephon Gilmore, But CB's 'Open' To Move to Patriots in NFL Free Agency

FRISCO - Stephon Gilmore has openly said all of the right things about a Dallas Cowboys reunion. But he's apparently quietly saying some things about a New England Patriots reunion as well.

“I want to come back,” Gilmore said at the Super Bowl, speaking about re-signing with Cowboys, where he spent the 2023 season, playing well, before hitting free agency. “We can’t talk until March. But that’s the goal, because I think we do have the pieces to get to where we want to go, and I want to be part of that.”

Have things changed? Maybe in two ways.

One, it's March. So all of the parties are talking. And two, it doesn't taken an overly cynical Cowboys fan to wonder if Dallas - doing so little in free agency in terms of roster-building - is still viewed as "having the pieces to get where we want to go.''

Gilmore, the Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 when he played in New England and a member of a Patriots team that won a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl LIII, is 33. For all he brought to the table in his one season here, the Cowboys' so-far approach to a player of his ilk certainly doesn't suggest a big-money offer or a multi-year offer. (See "Blow It Up!'' - The 2025 Rebuild.)

All things considered, then, it comes as no surprise that word in Boston is that Gilmore would be "open'' to a return to the Pats ... though New England does sit well behind Dallas in terms of being a 2024 contender. (NFL.com presently has Dallas as the NFL's No. 10 team, a "high'' number that surely surprises some in Cowboys Nation.)

In New England, they're talking about Gilmore as a mentor to second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez. And some of that same logic applies in Dallas, where starting corners Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland have surely learned a great deal from locker-room leader Gilmore.

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But at this point in his career, he's earned the right to have his decision be based on "contention vs. contract.'' In other words, chase the money if he wishes. Or chase a ring. Or, ideally, both.

Gilmore is dealing with a rehab from shoulder surgery that figures to limit him until training camp, and that may be why big offers have yet to flood in. But he's a good player and a good teammate ... and right now, both Dallas and New England could use a lot of both of those things.