Tennessee Titans: What we know about OLB Reggie Gilbert

Here’s everything we know about new Tennessee Titans outside linebacker, Reggie Gilbert.

Outside linebacker Reggie Gilbert is the newest Tennessee Titan, but what exactly do we know about him?

The Titans pulled off a trade on Wednesday night, sending a seventh-round pick to the Green Bay Packers for Gilbert. The move was made to strengthen the team’s depth behind Harold Landry, Cameron Wake and Sharif Finch.

Here’s what we know about Gilbert so far.

He played college ball at Arizona, went undrafted

Gilbert played for the Wildcats from 2012 to 2015, and totaled 144 tackles (90 solo, 28 for loss), 14 sacks, two passes defended, and four forced fumbles.

Here are the strengths listed on the scouting report for Gilbert coming out of college, courtesy of Arizona Desert Swarm’s Gabe Encinas.

"Reggie has great size on the edge, checking in at 6-foot-3, 261 pounds. That size allows him to change up between a defensive end or outside linebacker at the next level. And versatility is king when it comes to the NFL these days. Gilbert is also pretty fast for his size and position, running a 4.79 40-yard dash at Arizona’s pro day. He also had 24 reps on the bench press and a 33.5-inch vertical jump.I think he excels in lateral speed when the play goes out to the edge. He was able to force the play to go back inside or have the ball carrier backtrack to try and round the outside. When the play is going to the opposite side, Gilbert was still able to track down the ball and get the stop."

Despite having some promising strengths on his scouting report, Gilbert would go undrafted in 2016.

He has a great motor and athleticism

As Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported back in 2017, the outside linebacker has a great motor and quickness for the position.

"The aggressive motor and slippery quickness that served him well in training camp resurfaced against top-flight competition, namely right tackle Mike Remmers, and Gilbert sliced into the backfield for three pressures and two quarterback hits, tied with nose tackle Kenny Clark for most on the team."

The thing we hear most about Gilbert is that he’s fast. Having a player with the speed of Gilbert will no doubt help a Titans run defense that ranked 18th last season, and he should contribute to the pass-rush when he’s on the field, also.

He played in all 16 games for the Packers in 2018

It took Gilbert some time to make an NFL roster, but he latched on with the Packers in 2017 and played in two games.

It wasn’t until 2018 when Gilbert really got his chance to make an impact. He played in all 16 games (no starts) for Green Bay last season, and finished with 38 total tackles (27 solo, four for loss), 2.5 sacks and eight QB hits.

He’s a great locker room guy

One of the most important aspects of bringing in a new player is how he’ll mesh with the rest of the players in the locker room.

Well, according to Austin Stanley of A to Z Sports Nashville, the Titans won’t have to worry about that.

That’s great news. The Titans’ locker room already seems to be strong in the chemistry department, and Gilbert will only add to that.

He’s recovering from a knee injury

Gilbert is dealing with a knee issue at the moment, but according to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the former Packer should be ready to roll by the first or second game of the season at the latest.

The Titans will hope that the Week 1 timetable comes to fruition, and that Gilbert is back sooner rather than later to help add some depth to the outside linebacker position.

Why would the Packers trade him?

So, if Gilbert has all of these positive qualities and the Packers liked him, why would they trade him? ESPN’s Rob Demovsky gave us some insight into that question.

It appears Gilbert was no better than the fifth outside linebacker on the Packers’ depth chart, thus the Packers were more interested in the draft pick.

With the Titans, Gilbert could spring to the No. 4 spot, as both Kamalei Correa and Derick Roberson haven’t done much this preseason. Roberson might be off the roster altogether when cuts happen.

He’s off to a good start in 2019

Despite the knee injury, Gilbert got off to a great start this preseason. As Demovsky noted above, Gilbert had a sack in each of the first two preseason games for Green Bay.

Gilbert’s two sacks are one less than the Titans have as a team combined this preseason. If Gilbert were already in the two tone for the team’s first two exhibition contests, chances are we’d be raving about him.