The Minnesota Vikings met with current free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Monday, August 12th. At the time, everyone seemed like this was a done deal given Gilmore’s connection with current defensive coordinator Brian Flores and the Vikings’ desperate need for a cornerback. That ended up not being the case, and Gilmore left Minnesota without a deal .
Although Gilmore left without a deal, head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media that evening before the Vikings’ night practice and said the conversations with Gilmore were positive. However, a certain beat writer hinted that the way O’Connell worded things it sounded like a “sales pitch” to Gilmore.
Was Kevin O’Connell giving Stephon Gilmore a “sales pitch” in his pressor?
According to Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) via Access Vikings , he got the vibe from O’Connell that it was more of a sales pitch to Gilmore. He also compared it to situations like Dalton Risner and Kareem Hunt last season.
Did you get a little bit of a vibe from that last night? Like the things he said about Stephon Gilmore were a little bit of a sales pitch.
Like, it seemed like he was trying to use his comments to us to send the message to Stephon Gilmore. Hey, this is a great place to be. You really want to be here. And the other thing that stuck out to me, he said, after the visit, he said, it’s kind of like some of these other ones we’ve done in the past.
I think he used some language like that, which made me think, I thought of Dalton Risner last year, or they had, I think, Kareem Hunt in there. My understanding was probably to send a little bit of a message to Madison and stop fumbling, or we’ll look for somebody else… But yeah, it felt a little bit to me like a message for an audience of one.
Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) via Access Vikings
Essentially, what Goessling is hinting at, is he believes the Minnesota Vikings likely offered Gilmore a contract that he can take or sit on it if he gets any better offers. Additionally, it gave Gilmore a chance to see the Minnesota Vikings’ facilities and the culture surrounding the team. A potential selling point for him if he decides to shop this deal around.
Will the Minnesota Vikings’ sign Stephon Gilmore and, if so, when?
It’s unclear now if Gilmore will sign here. As a comparison, and what Goessling referenced in the podcast, Dalton Risner visited the Minnesota Vikings on August, 1 2023 but did not end up agreeing to the deal until September 18, 2023.
The Vikings likely are playing this same game with Gilmore. Giving him a chance to see everything while offering a contract to him that fits what the team wants. At this point, it’ll be up to Gilmore whether he will take that or continue shopping around for a better deal or fit.
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One thing that Goessling did note was that it seems like the Minnesota Vikings are the only team interested in him, as of right now. Another element could be training camp. A lot of these veteran free agent players want to sign as late as possible to avoid training camp, but still leave enough time to practice with the team. Overall, the ball seems to be in Gilmore’s court.
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