Stephon Gilmore is calling it a career. The former first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills took a few years to begin to live up to his draft pedigree of being selected 10th overall. But he parlayed a Pro Bowl selection in his fifth and final year in western New York into a stretch with New England where he was once crowned the game's top defender.
Visit saltysenoritaaz.com for more information.
The South Carolina product was twice named First-Team All-Pro, including when he won Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, then followed it up with his fourth and fifth Pro Bowl seasons as he moved into the mercenary phase of his career. Gilmore played a single year in Carolina and Indianapolis before joining the Dallas Cowboys in 2023.
He played for Minnesota in 2024 but did not suit up in 2025, so after 180 games played, $115 million in contracts and 32 interceptions, he's decided to end his pro football resume as he announced his retirement on Thursday.
Former Cowboys cornerback and former DPOY Stephon Gilmore has announced his retirement.
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) April 2, 2026
Should get a gold jacket one day. https://t.co/9QOkMIwiSz
The Cowboys acquired Gilmore in a trade with the Colts prior to the 2023 NFL Draft.
The salary cost for the final remaining year of his deal wasn't much, a compensatory fifth-round selection. He played over 1,000 defense snaps and had a respectable 71.2 PFF grade for the year starting opposite DaRon Bland after Trevon Diggs tore his ACL in Week 3.
Gilmore's trade acquisition, along with that of WR Brandin Cooks, seemed to opened the Cowboys' front office's eyes to a third method of talent acquisition they had been failing to leverage.
Long known to have become gun shy of veteran free agency, the Cowboys were intent to only using the draft to attain new talent. But since that year, the Cowboys have added the trade for veterans to their tool box. Trading picks for talent allows the team to avoid the guaranteed money of free-agent deals and work with just the base salary aspects of the veteran market.
Free agent deals with huge signing bonuses allow cap space to be spread out, but teams also have to place the amount of the guarantees into non-interest escrow accounts, tying up that money that can't be invested elsewhere.
But Gilmore and Cooks opened the door for the Cowboys to make moves such as acquiring WR George Pickens, DT Quinnen Williams and edge Rashan Gary in subsequent years. Dallas is likely planning several other trades over the next two months to help round out their roster for 2026.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Former Cowboys CB Stephon Gilmore to retire, Hall of Fame coming?