Pittsburgh Steelers: Meet the pick, LB Ulysees Gilbert

The Pittsburgh Steelers went heavy on the linebackers in the 2019 class after not taking one in 2018. They are looking for youthful players that are more built for today’s NFL at the position than Jonathan Bostic was in 2018.

The Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers have always been a source of pride in their defenses. From Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Greg Lloyd to Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Shazier and T.J. Watt the linebackers are the anchors of the defense in the Steel City.

They filled a huge need early in the draft taking Devin Bush at 10th overall, but they added depth with their sixth round pick. Ulysees Gilbert heard his name called as the 207th pick of the draft.

Gilbert is a very instinctive, yet, slightly undersized linebacker from Akron University. He put up back to back years in 2016 and 2017 of 120-plus total tackles and had four sacks in each season.

Despite not being the greatest cover linebacker, he managed to intercept three passes in college which all came in 2017. That season was, as a whole, his best season of his career at Akron.

The Steelers saw a nose for the football and pretty good speed in Gilbert and decided to make him their pick. He had a solid outing in the East-West shrine game posting 5 total tackles and a pass breakup.

Gilbert needed the good outing there to help get himself into the late day three conversation. He boosted his draft status at the Akron pro day as well – running a 4.51 40-yard dash and putting up 20 bench reps.

Being undersized, Gilbert needs to find ways to be better in coverage to make a name for himself. He is an instinctive run supporter but his size may cause him to be eaten up by blockers at the next level.

He is not the most physical player I have seen before but he is very sound in his tackling technique. Gilbert displays great quickness and agility in the open field that is needed to bring down shifty runners in space in the NFL.

Coverage is the biggest and most glaring hole in Gilbert’s game. He has some man capabilities, but far too often his coverage breaks down. That cannot happen in the NFL from an inside linebacker these days.

Jonathan Bostic was a similar style player in that he was very good against the run but his coverage was nonexistent. Bostic, however, was older and slower than Gilbert so there is room for Gilbert to get going.

Gilbert is the prototypical, day three linebacker that the Steelers take. They love picking hardworking, productive players to develop as they see fit, but also guys who can land on special teams such as Tyler Matakevich or Anthony Chickillo.

The Steelers linebacker group has had to find itself again after the tragic Ryan Shazier injury. The draft and free agents like Mark Barron have this season feeling like they will finally have a cohesive and destructive unit on the field for this defense.