'GILLY'S ISLAND!' Cowboys New CB Stephon Gilmore Biggest 'X-Factor' in Playoff Chase?
Landing a Defensive Player of the Year is a move every NFL front office salivates over. Not only is it rare due to most team's reluctance to trade away such a valuable asset, but when the opportunity does present itself the price tag is usually far too steep for trade talks to materialize.
But for the Dallas Cowboys, a March trade landed them the NFL's best defensive player in 2019 - cornerback Stephon Gilmore - in exchange for a measly fifth-round draft pick.
Now, the Super Bowl winner Gilmore - who we're predicting handles his responsibilities so well that "GILLY'S ISLAND'' catches on in Dallas - has the opportunity to potentially be the Cowboys biggest "X-Factor" this season.
"Gilmore has a great understanding of routes, both how to attack one in isolation and how to react to multiple working in concert," The 33rd Team writes. "Any diminishment in the soon-to-be 33-year-old’s athleticism (if there is any) so far has been largely offset by his physicality and technique. Perhaps most importantly, Gilmore gives the Dallas Cowboys more options to use Trevon Diggs – a uniquely talented but unconventionally high-risk/high-reward playmaker."
A Pro Bowler in four of the past five years, Gilmore posted a career-high 66 tackles last season, to go along with 11 pass deflections and two interceptions.
Now lining up next to one of the league's best young cornerbacks in the ball-hawking Diggs - with two Pro Bowl nods of his own through three seasons - the tandem has the opportunity to quickly become one of the NFL's best.
"Though predominantly a matchup/man corner, in Carolina and Indianapolis, Gilmore operated in more zone-based schemes," The 33rd Team writes. "That’s critical because, though the Cowboys ranked fourth in man coverage usage under defensive play-caller Dan Quinn, they also ranked 10th in Cover 2 last season. Quinn might be the best in the league at disguising Cover 2 out of man-to-man looks. Gilmore gives Dallas outside stability in both those coverages and everything in between."
With this Cowboys defense expected to finish at the top of the league once again, the addition of Gilmore could place them into elite company. ... helping to make the entire unit a "best of the year'' bunch.
You can find Riley Sheppard on Twitter @RileyDSheppard
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