“I think the National Football League has always been a passing league,” New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters last week when asked about his team’s defensive performance. Passing is the name of the game as it is built in 2018: being consistently successful and playing winning football without a good pass offense and pass defense is near impossible in the current era.
From a defensive perspective, it is therefore highly important in this day-and-age to be able to challenge quarterbacks, wide receivers and offensive linemen on an every-down basis. As a result, pass rushers and cornerbacks are among the highest paid players in all of the sport — and the aforementioned Patriots are no exception: in 2017, New England signed free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore to a 5-year, $65 million contract.