Last August, the Tennessee Titans acquired outside linebacker Reggie Gilbert in a trade with the Green Bay Packers that ultimately cost a sixth-round pick. He was then re-signed this offseason to a one-year deal.
However, his future with the team is anything but secure.
In 2019, the Titans carried five outside linebackers on their initial 53-man roster, and in 2020 the team already figures to have at least four roster locks at the position going into training camp.
That group consists of Harold Landry, Vic Beasley, Kamalei Correa and 2019 fifth-round pick, D’Andre Walker, who missed all of his rookie season with an injury but figures to be part of the equation regardless.
You could also make an argument that Derick Roberson is as close to a lock as you can get after he flashed his pass-rush skills at the end of last season with three sacks in the Titans’ last two regular season games, including two against the New Orleans Saints’ elite offensive line in Week 16.
With the Titans needing to see an improvement in the pass-rush this coming season, Roberson carries an advantage over Gilbert, who played a minimal role in his first season in Nashville as a run defense specialist.
Gilbert is facing an uphill battle in making the roster, and that’s a sentiment that ESPN’s Turron Davenport agrees with, as the he named Gilbert the one veteran who is on the roster bubble in Tennessee.
The Titans brought Gilbert back on a one-year deal after trading for him in 2019. Gilbert had a steady spot in Tennessee’s outside linebacker rotation, but he was a healthy scratch in the AFC Championship Game. The emergence of second-year outside linebacker Derick Roberson last season and return from injury of 2019 fifth-round draft pick D’Andre Walker could spell trouble for Gilbert. The Titans re-signed Kamalei Correa and agreed to a one-year deal with former Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Vic Beasley, who, along with Harold Landry, will take most of the snaps. — Turron Davenport
Should Gilbert not make the cut, the Titans could look to trade him, but it isn’t clear if general manager Jon Robinson would be able to recoup the sixth-round pick he lost in the initial trade with Green Bay.
Gilbert would probably fetch no better than a seventh-round pick, however it’s far more likely he simply gets cut and hits the open market.
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