Patriots restructure Stephon Gilmore’s contract ahead of trade deadline

The New England Patriots entered this weekend with a mere $1.64 million in salary cap space available which is extremely low compared to other teams around the league and possibly detrimental to the Pats probable desire to add a higher-priced impact player. The Pats can use free agency for a pickup or via trade with the trade deadline coming fast on 10/30.

The Pats addressed this issue today with the help of cornerback Stephon Gilmore agreeing to a contract restructure to free up almost $4 million in additional cap space. ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss reported that Gilmore’s contract was changed by turning $4.95 million of his base salary into a fully guaranteed roster bonus (prorated over 4 years), which created $3.71 million in cap space this year.

Before the restructure, Gilmore was on the Patriots’ pay roll with $12.5 million – the second highest cap number on the team behind only Tom Brady’s $22.0 million. With his cap hit now down to $8.8 million, New England was able to bring its available space up to $5.35 million opening the door for opportunities to add a player or two to the roster.

New England always seems to be active around this time and with more cap space to work with, it likely won’t be any different this year.