Camp profile: Stephon Gilmore- Will WRs be able to leave Gilmore’s Island?

When Rex Ryan was named the Bills head coach, one of the first things I thought of were players on the defense who would could thrive under his guidance. We all know Rex loves CBs and Darrelle Revis was his crown jewel on defense during his years in NY. Once Revis got traded, Rex’s defenses weren’t the same. Its simple: Rex wants to throw the kitchen sink at QBs and wants his CBs to play man-to-man. By some accounts, the CBs are the most important element in Rex’s defense.

So, I started thinking about our own CBs and Revis…which leads me to Stephon Gilmore. I don’t know if its fair to do this, but I started thinking about whether Gilmore can be our version of Revis. Both are notorious at jamming WRs at the line of scrimmage, but I’d probably say Revis is better in recovery speed or playing off the ball than Gilmore. Still, because of where Gilmore was drafted, I think you can’t help but draw comparisons.

I’ll admit, I have been hard on Gilmore over the years. I thought he was decent his rookie year only because everyone else in the secondary was a tire fire and QBs were throwing at them instead of Gilmore (This was the Justin Rogers and Aaron Williams at CB with Wannstedt running the defense year). Then, Gilmore broke his hand during the 2013 preseason which meant he had to play most of the year with a “Cowboy” Bob Orton cast. At the start of last year, he was getting burned a lot. At the same time, there have been some folks who really have liked his play. He has his fan club (See: Jeremy White and Rob Quinn) which would denounce anyone who crapped on him during his first couple of years and at the start of last year. Its not his fault..its the pass rushes fault…its the scheme…he has a cast…he’s in zone coverage… you don’t have all-22 or unlimited vines… blah blah blah blah.

Last year, I remember I tweeted out what Gilmore’s PFF numbers were after 4 games and this was during the same discord between the pro and anti-Gilmore crowds. PFF had Gilmore ranked as the 82nd best CB in the NFL with QBs completing 82% of their passes thrown his way for a QB rating of 142. That sounds like a fucking tire fire. What proceeded after tweeting that was a bunch of pro-Gilmore fans pissing all over Pro Football Focus. All of the excuses I used about scheme and pass rush were used.

Then Gilmore got hot.

For the 2nd half of the season, PFF had Gilmore ranked as the 10th best CB with QBs completing just 53% of their passes thrown his way for a QB rating of 65. This happened when the Bills were playing the likes of Manning/Rodgers. Of course, me, being the objective journalist that I am (Fart noise) tweeted out those numbers and the exact same pro-Gilmore crowd that lambasted PFF after week 4 were sucking them off. Ah, yes…Whatever way you can twist the story to support your narrative is one of my favorite narratives on Twitter.

Its going to be interesting to see how big of a step Gilmore can make under Ryan since he’s pretty much cemented as the best CB on this team. In some circles, I’ve seen some say Gilmore may be the 2nd best player on the defense. I don’t know if I’d go that far. Gilmore has always struck me as a really laid back dude. Anytime he speaks his tone is very soft and just chill. I guess he’s your classic “lets his play on the field do the talking” kind of guy. Well, I think its safe to say his coach is NOT that type of guy.

Rex needs his CBs to play on an island and if Gilmore struggles like he did at the start of last year, you know Rex will give him an earful and Gilmore will wish he was on an island by himself.

Stats:

• PFF had Gilmore giving up 736 yards receiving in 2012 which ranked 11th most.
• PFF had Gilmore giving up 570 yards in receiving in 2013 and was ranked the 70th best CB.
• Against Green Bay last year, Gilmore gave up just 1 catch for 6 yards on 8 passes thrown towards him.
• Against Denver, Gilmore gave up just 2 catches for 14 yards
• In his last five games last year, QBs had a rating of 79.7, 8.3, 39.6, 45.1, and 39.6 when throwing towards Gilmore.
• In 5 of Gilmore’s first 7 games last year, QBs had a rating of 140.4, 155.4, 104.9, 158.3, and 109.7 when throwing towards him.
• On average, Gilmore was thrown at 4.5 times per game last season.
• PFF had Gilmore ranked in the top 5 for CBs on running plays with 9 defensive stops.
• Gilmore was targeted 69 times (giggles) last year and gave up 43 catches for 516 yards and 5TDs

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Sammy Watkins