Heading into Cam Newton’s first season with New England, the team’s star cornerback has advice for the former NFL MVP.
Stephon Gilmore appeared on the Bakari Sellers Podcast last week and in addition to other topics, he gave advice to Newton about how to handle the pressure of playing in New England. It’s safe to say that playing for the Patriots isn’t for everyone.
Newton is being thrusted into a competition of sorts, as he and Jarrett Stidham will fight for the starting job. Not only that, Newton will have to reacclimate himself to the NFL after missing a majority of last season. As Gilmore told Sellers, the ‘Patriot Way’ has its own set of rules.
“There’s one thing I know about playing in New England. You have to be mentally strong… You have to be very hungry,” Gilmore said. “Everyone gets treated the same there. It’s no superstars, no nothing. So, if something don’t go right, someone’s gonna get on you, and we’re gonna correct it. So, no egos. It’s a team. The one common goal is to win and I feel like the Patriots [do] that well.”
Gilmore certainly has thrived under the ‘Patriot Way’ and getting named Defensive Player of the Year was perhaps his biggest individual accomplishment to date. He’s firmly established himself as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks.
It will be interesting to see if Newton can get back to peak form in 2020. That is just one of many storylines heading into a new-look season for New England.
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