Could Justin Gilbert be coming to the Burg?

[Ernie]

Just saw where the browns waived Pierre Desir also... maybe it's just a matter of cleaning house? I don't know what they are thinking.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

I'm still wondering who the Steelers have who can cover the slot receiver, other than Willie Gay. I'm not sold on Davis being the answer there. And who knows when -- or if -- Golson will ever be ready to play.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Just saw where the browns waived Pierre Desir also... maybe it's just a matter of cleaning house? I don't know what they are thinking.

Maybe Hue wants DBs who aren't afraid to tackle ...

[Mr.wizard]

Mark my words, Artie Burns is going to be a star.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Mark my words, Artie Burns is going to be a star.

Not bloody likely this season, though...I think everyone realized that it would take some time, but the reward down the road could be worth the wait.

[Mr.wizard]

Not bloody likely this season, though...I think everyone realized that it would take some time, but the reward down the road could be worth the wait.

I wouldn't be surprised if he is able to crack the starting lineup at some point in the season.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Steelers Better See Something in Justin Gilbert the Browns Didn't

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

September 3, 2016


PITTSBURGH -- Perhaps Justin Gilbert uses this fresh start to reignite his once-promising career. But the Pittsburgh Steelers' low-risk trade for cornerback help should be met with skepticism, given how bad Gilbert's tenure in Cleveland really was.


I was in Cleveland for the 2014 season, and this is the line I heard often behind the scenes: Johnny's bad, but he's not as bad as Justin Gilbert.


The sentiment was that though Johnny Manziel was a problem as a rookie, he was considered more reliable when it came to punctuality than fellow rookie Gilbert, who eventually admitted to reporters he had a tendency to oversleep. Once veterans in the Browns' locker room started telling Gilbert to "grow up" through the media, his career in Cleveland was over before it started.

The fact the Browns traded Gilbert inside the AFC North shows how unimpressed they were with Gilbert's push to carve out a role in the Hue Jackson era.


And now he's a Steeler.


It's easy to say a former top 10 pick is worth a sixth-round flier. But this is where the Steelers better be sure Gilbert has a skill that translates to their defensive scheme. Based on two NFL seasons, Gilbert's 6-foot frame, long arms and athleticism can't offset his unproven coverage skills. Gilbert must shrug off what appears to be an aloof attitude toward professional football. It's not like Gilbert was playing behind stud corners in Cleveland. The Browns' pass defense was 22nd in the league last year, and Gilbert managed 50 snaps in that defense.


Either the Steelers will look really smart with this deal, or they will have traded late-round picks in back-to-back years without sufficient corner help to show for it. Brandon Boykin, acquired for a fifth-round pick last year, didn't play for most of the year, and though he was adequate in a late-season role, the team did not consider re-signing him.

With dozens of cornerbacks available via waivers this weekend -- including another former top-10 pick, Dee Milliner -- the Steelers might have found help without giving up a draft pick. It should be noted that waiver assignments are based on draft order, meaning the Steelers pick 25th. The good corners would likely be gone by then.


If the Steelers see something worthwhile in Gilbert, they've earned that trust with the fanbase.


I just don't see it.


Maybe he's a different guy in a stable organization.


At least he's not as bad as Johnny.


[url]http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/20031/steelers-better-see-something-in-justin-gilbert-the-browns-didnt[/url]

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Check out this excerpt from an article from last November:




While Manziel's fall from grace is grabbing the headlines, he's been a veritable angel inside the facility compared to his first-round counterpart and teammate, Justin Gilbert, who should be the bigger story.

The Browns barely knew who Gilbert was before they selected the cornerback with the eighth overall pick in the 2014 draft and their missteps in the jumbled mess of a process has resulted in quite possibly one of the biggest NFL draft busts of the decade.

Sources say key members of the organization — people who might’ve been able to red flag him — did not physically meet Gilbert until after he was drafted. And those that did file scouting reports on Gilbert’s work ethic extolling his passion for football were completely wrong on their detailed research. If you remember correctly, this was also during the offseason when [URL="http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/article-1/Criticism-about-Ray-Farmer-Mike-Pettine-missing-pro-day-workouts-unwarranted/88aa2346-7a42-4b52-847e-937772a1603f"]Farmer mocked the pro day process by skipping nearly all of them[/URL]. Some of his other methodologies were equally as unorthodox and led to the team hiring Farmer’s mentor, veteran NFL executive Bill Kuharich, 12 days after the 2014 draft.

The Browns being coy about their draft intentions is nothing new in the NFL. But what’s troubling about the matter is that Gilbert’s personality problems are apparent to anyone who's been around him for longer than a day. He's withdrawn and carries a distinct false sense of entitlement that shows itself when he acts downright aloof to how his negative behavior rubs people the wrong way.

Browns community and marketing staffers rarely bother asking him to participate in activities with fans — usually a must for recent draft picks.

Two prominent Browns defensive players recently read a transcript of Gilbert's graceless and unprofessional interview with reporters this fall about his promotion to kick returner and complained directly to me.

“He just doesn’t get what the NFL is about. At all,” said one veteran. “How could they miss this badly?” said another about the front office.

All NFL teams miss on draft picks, even the Patriots. The problem for the Browns? The first trait Pettine and Farmer look for in upcoming draft picks is whether or not they love football.

“Does this guy love what football does for him or does he truly love the game and is passionate about it?” Pettine told the team’s website at the NFL’s scouting combine in February. "That's something that you can really find out. You'd be surprised how much you can find out in a short period of time. That's the biggest reason why we're here.”

There might not be anybody in the NFL who cares less about football than Gilbert.

Gilbert’s healthy scratch against the Steelers on Nov. 15 was a result of a string of “piss poor” practices and inconsistent habits in the meeting room, where he clearly hasn’t been memorizing tweaks to the defensive playbook. Remember, this comes days after playing 23 relatively positive snaps against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football, where he could’ve finally escaped the bench.

Unlike Manziel, who loves football and abused the stardom that comes with it, Gilbert seems like he wants nothing to do with the sport. And while Manziel’s path of destruction has been aired out in public eye, Gilbert’s has played out behind the scenes. The clues were there from the beginning though.

He was a high school track star in Texas and loved playing wide receiver where he could score touchdowns. He also excelled as a kick returner at Oklahoma State, setting the Big 12 record for return touchdowns. Gilbert used his speed and little else to be an effective cornerback in college. The Browns became infatuated with his length and physical abilities, and not about who he was as a person. Gilbert even had a wildly inconsistent junior season in college that the Browns seemingly ignored. Cleveland thought that with the right coaching they could turn him into an Antonio Cromartie type who could play on an island.

At a celebratory dinner in downtown Cleveland shortly after the 2014 draft, a source said Farmer and Pettine were openly glowing about how Gilbert would quickly blossom into one of the elite cornerbacks in the NFL. The Browns thought they might have nabbed the steal of the draft.

In Pettine’s mentally taxing defensive scheme and in the macho world of the NFL, however, Gilbert’s speed and athleticism meant nothing. Soon, it became clear that Cleveland put a premium on drafting a position on the field instead of a football player. Players lacking physical attributes like Jim Leonhard thrived in Pettine’s scheme because they were cerebral. Gilbert just doesn’t get joy out of breaking down the Xs and Os. Flashy plays get him going, not the nitty-gritty details that define professional football.

To give the embattled defensive coaching staff credit, they haven’t complained about Gilbert nearly as much as they should have. They took him on as a project and had genuine hopes they could turn him around like the Texans did with Kareem Jackson, like the Ravens did with Jimmy Smith. And though Johnson Bademosi has struggled, the coaches aren't going to throw Gilbert out there instead simply because he makes more money. They've stayed true to their philosophy of competition and rewarding veterans who do the right things.

Gilbert is on an island in a way, just not the way the organization wanted. While other Browns players generally make an effort to get to know each other in the locker room and cafeteria, Gilbert is usually by himself, sometimes even leaving the facility during the free hour period before practice. Team good guy Joe Haden attempted to mentor Gilbert this offseason by working out with him in Miami, but Gilbert continued to push away veterans looking to help guide him in Cleveland. He’s isolated himself from the team.

Healthy scratches are the norm for Gilbert. The team realized they had reached the point of no return during a game in the middle of last season. The cornerback missed the mandatory team bus at 10:30 a.m. and had to be frantically located by the Browns security team. Gilbert showed up shortly after noon. One teammate nearly had to be restrained, his anger bubbling as Gilbert stood there smiling, eating candy.

Nine months later, in joint training camp practices against the Bills that featured 180 total players, nobody was worse than Justin Gilbert. When he aggravated a hip flexor, teammates privately told me they were thankful — his play was embarrassing all of them. In two short afternoons he was exposed for what he is: an athletic specimen, not an NFL cornerback.


[url]http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2015/11/30/disastrous-cleveland-browns-season-was-set-up-to-fail-from-the-start[/url]

[fordfixer]

Not exactly a glowing report hopefully the Steelers can do something with him

[Steelwolf]

The steelers can't afford to waste time on busts, they have a hard time grooming their own in the secondary department lol....but let's hope he works out!

[Oviedo]

This may be where we see what Carnell Lake is made of and what kind of coach he is. IMO he has earned a big question mark the past couple of years

[passhappy]

very big question mark

[Slapstick]

Low risk, high reward potential. For a 6th round pick two years from now. Even if he doesn't work out, I just don't see the problem with this trade...

[SteelCrazy]

CB Gilbert 'grateful' for trade to Steelers

PITTSBURGH -- After his first practice with the Pittsburgh Steelers, cornerback Justin Gilbert sounded like a guy relieved to reset his turbulent career.

The Cleveland Browns on Saturday traded Gilbert, the No. 8 overall pick in 2014, to corner-needy Pittsburgh in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2018.

"Words can't even explain how excited I am," Gilbert said Monday. "I'm grateful."

Gilbert hopes to turn that gratitude into a more stable NFL career. Gilbert fell out of favor in Cleveland and managed 39 tackles in two seasons. He struggled with punctuality as a rookie, prompting Browns safety Donte Whitner to say publicly Gilbert needed to "grow up."

Two seasons later, Gilbert is using similar language.

"Just growing up off the field," Gilbert said, regarding how he plans to improve his professionalism in Pittsburgh. "It's a lot of things that can distract you when you come in fresh out of college. After a year in the league, not getting done what I wanted to get done the first season, it changed me and made me a new man, for sure."

Gilbert declined specifics about those distractions, but overall he attributed his struggles in Cleveland to "lack of consistency" and now knows he has to "prepare like a pro" every week.

Gilbert impressed teammates with his footwork in a practice drill Monday, but Gilbert was always a fluid athlete. To advance his career, he'll have to show he can thrive in Pittsburgh's winning culture.

Gilbert considers Pittsburgh's locker room "a little more laid back" than Cleveland's. Gilbert is under contract for the next two seasons at salaries of $786,682 and $970,023. He is due a roster bonus of $800,000 this year and $1.2 million next year.

"Everybody knows what this team is capable of," Gilbert said. "On the practice field, it was a whole different level. I'm excited for that every day. I just want to finish out the year here and make it to the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl. ... If I'm playing good, I'll be out there."

[url]www.espn.com[/url]

[fordfixer]

Well it sounds as if he is saying the right things