The Pittsburgh Steelers are losing a player on their practice to the Detroit Lions.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Detroit Lions are signing cornerback Mark Gilbert off the Steelers practice squad. Gilbert, a rookie undrafted free agent out of Duke, has been on the Steelers practice squad all season. He is also the cousin of former NFL cornerback Darrelle Revis.
The Steelers don’t have room for Gilbert on their own 53-man roster so it’s not surprising to see him ride off to be on the Lions 53-man roster.
Gilbert was signed by the Steelers a few months ago as an undrafted free agent. For his college career at Duke, Gilbert registered just 65 total tackles, five of which were for loss, seven interceptions, and 17 passes defensed. He also played in just 23 games in college over a span of four seasons due to hip and foot injuries. He chose to opt out of most of the 2020 season to prepare for the NFL.
At his pro day, Gilbert measured in at 6001, 186 pounds and he reportedly ran his 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds. He did 13 reps on the bench at his Pro Day and registered a vertical jump of 36 inches and a broad jump of 10’10”. His short shuttle time was 4.38 seconds, and he finished his 3-cone drill in 7.10 seconds, per the reports.
Gilbert being poached by the Lions might result in the team adding former undrafted cornerback Shakur Brown to the team’s practice squad to fill that spot. Brown hinted in a Monday tweet that he might be re-signing with the Steelers.
We should find out later today who the new Steelers practice squad players are. There could be two of them in wide receiver Anthony Miller and Brown. Miller was reportedly scheduled to take a physical with the Steelers on Tuesday, and potentially be signed to the practice squad if that part of process goes well.
