After winning Defensive Player of the Year last season, Stephon Gilmore has earned the respect from a lot of his peers.
When it comes to the wide receivers he goes up against, Gilmore praises who he believes to be the best at the position.
On The Bakari Sellers Podcast, the former South Carolina corner gave a top-five list of wide receivers that are the most difficult to match up against in the game today.
“[Antonio Brown], you got Tyreek Hill just because of his speed, you got Odell Beckham’s pretty tough… Julio Jones, I would say he’s in my top five too, probably one or two, but I haven’t played against him… Michael Thomas… he’s a monster.”
It’s interesting that Gilmore didn’t include DeAndre Hopkins, who he had a disagreement with on Twitter last season. However, with the level of talent at the position in the league today, it’s tough to argue with a top-five that includes those superstars.
Sellers also asked Gilmore who the toughest wide receiver he ever had to cover was.
“Calvin Johnson,” Gilmore replied. “He didn’t cook me, but he was very tough. He’s huge. I’m like ‘this dude is huge and he can move like this. This is crazy.’”
Gilmore is showing a great amount of respect for one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play the game. Johnson’s combination of size, speed and jumping ability made him incredibly difficult for anyone to cover.
Consistently playing against some of the best in the game has allowed Gilmore to climb to new heights and put him among the best cornerbacks in the league today.
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