Tackle Marcus Gilbert is on the move. The Pittsburgh Steelers have traded him to the Arizona Cardinals, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Gilbert tweeted “next chapter” earlier Friday, a signal the team was going to move him. It’s unclear what the compensation was. We’ll update this post when that information is reported. In Arizona, Gilbert will reunite with old offensive line coach Sean Kugler, on the Steelers’ staff when the team selected Gilbert.
A former second-round pick of the 2011 draft, Gilbert made 87 career starts in Pittsburgh and when healthy, played at a very high level. Injuries and suspension hindered him the last two seasons, starting just 12 games. He ended 2018 on injured reserve with a lingering knee injury.
Trading Gilbert saves the Steelers roughly $4.9 million in salary cap space this season. The deal also won’t become official until the start of the new league year next week.
Gilbert is entering the final year of his contract and with the team having backup tackles Chukwuma Okorafor, Matt Feiler, Zach Banner and Jerald Hawkins all under contract for 2019, it made sense to for the Steelers to attempt to trade Gilbert for whatever they could get in lieu of just cutting him outright.
UPDATE (1:29 PM): The Steelers will get a 6th round pick in return, likely 209th in this year’s draft.
