Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert had a fantastic 2015 season and while he didn’t make the Pro Bowl this year, he probably deserved to.
Gilbert, who nearly played every offensive snap this past season, looked a lot more athletic this year than he has in the past as well. Why is that? The Florida product recently said that he really committed himself to his offseason program.
“I’ve really improved in getting my body fat down and am doing yoga and working on my flexibility,” Gilbert said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “And I have some other plans that I can try to do to help better myself and my health and my longevity of my career.”
Gilbert faced quite few of the game’s best pass rushers this past season and he handled all of them extremely well. That list of edge rushers includes Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller, who harassed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady quite a bit in Sundays AFC Championship game,
In the two games that the Steelers played against the Broncos, Miller registered all of two tackles and one quarterback hit when matched up against Gilbert. One of those tackles followed a reception by Steelers tight end Matt Spaeth.
As far as penalties go, Gilbert had 7 during the regular season and one during the postseason. Two of those, however, were false starts.
Gilbert said recently that he hopes to play 12-15 seasons in the league and while that would be extremely long for an offensive lineman in today’s NFL, he’s now already halfway to 10.
“Still got a lot of ball left, but this has been by far my healthiest season as of yet,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert, who was originally drafted by the Steelers in the second-round of the 2011 NFL Draft out of Florida, is currently under contract through the 2019 season after signing a five-year, $30 million contract extension just prior to the start of the 2014 regular season.
