Thinking about the corners.....
Gilmore
- 30 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 28-49 (57.1%), 326 yds, 1 td, 1 int, 75.7 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $23.1m
- 2021 cap hit: $17.1m
- 2022: UFA
Jackson
- 25 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 45-77 (58.4%), 616 yds, 5 td, 8 int, 66.2 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $753k
- 2021: RFA
J McCourty
- 33 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 26-40 (65.0%), 390 yds, 5 td, 0 int, 136.5 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $5.5m
- 2021: UFA
J Jones
- 27 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 47-74 (63.5%), 476 yds, 4 td, 1 int, 94.2 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $5.9m
- 2021 cap hit: $7.1m
- 2022 cap hit: $8.2m
- 2023: UFA
Bryant
- 22 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 3-6 (50.0%), 25 yds, 0 td, 1 int, 21.5 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $574k
- 2021 cap hit: $780k
- 2022: ERFA
J Williams
- 23 years old
- 2020 stats: Opposing QBs are 4-8 (50.0%), 101 yds, 1 td, 0 int, 135.4 rating against him
- 2020 cap hit: $1.5m
- 2021 cap hit: $1.8m
- 2022 cap hit: $2.1m
Too small a sample to know if Bryant is any good, but I'd rather him have good numbers in a small sample size than bad numbers. I think he's shown enough that he can probably play at an NFL level. He's played 112 snaps (11.2% of the total possible number of defensive snaps). With Gilmore out I expect him to play a fair amount this week against the Jets (he played 22 defensive snaps against Buffalo). He's someone they're likely to keep for 2021.
Jason McCourty needs to go. He's been their worst corner the past couple of years, and this year he has been an unmitigated disaster. He's a UFA, and he's a big enough veteran name with enough success that maybe someone will pick him up and the Pats could land a late compensation pick for him. But he shouldn't be on the team in 2021. At 33, he's not going to get any better, and as an established vet, he probably won't take pennies to play in New England. Another team, desperate for help at corner, might take a chance on him. Now I don't know if not re-signing him will piss DMac off enough so that he leaves too, but you can't worry about that.
Williams will likely stick around. Another tiny sample size, but he's played more defensive snaps than Bryant has (14.2% on D, 45.3% on ST). He costs more than pennies, but nothing too crazy. He's still got potential, and his size makes him someone that BB is still interested in keeping around. Maybe as a big corner, maybe as a safety. You don't give up on this guy yet.
That leaves Gilmore, Jones, and Jackson. If I was NE, I'd explore the trade market for Gilmore. If they can only get a 4th rounder, forget it. Keep him for 2021, as his cap hit actually goes down from 2020 by a considerable margin. He's still really good, even if he's not the DPOY level he was last year. But I certainly wouldn't release him and I wouldn't necessarily give him an extension either. Keep him for 2021 and then let him go and recoup a nice comp pick (3rd rounder most likely) afterward.
Extend Jackson. I'm higher on him than some of you guys are, I admit. I think he's terrific. And he's young. And he won't be cheap, but he also won't break the bank as an RFA. Extend him now while he's still relatively inexpensive.
Jones sticks, but I'm not sold on whether he should. He's only...ok. Not terrible. His numbers this year aren't good, but they're not awful either. He's an average corner. Nothing wrong with having an average corner. You can't have all all-pros. But his cap hit is a little big for my liking, so I'd like to see what they can do with that. He's also done some work at safety so perhaps at some point he could transition there. Gilmore could too, by the way, because not only is he a great cover guy, he's a really good tackler. But that's another topic for another day.