At every turn of the calendar, the NFL’s two conferences announce their players of the previous month — and for the second month in a row, a member of the New England Patriots defense took home the trophy earlier today: after safety Devin McCourty was given the award for AFC Defensive Player of the Month for September, cornerback Stephon Gilmore was announced as the recipient for the month of October.
Gilmore, who is in his third season with the Patriots after joining the team from the Buffalo Bills during free agency 2017, is a first-time recipient of the trophy and it is not hard to see why he won it: appearing in four games this month, the 29-year-old was outstanding while regularly going against opponents’ number one wide receivers.