Often it is not what you know, but who you know.
Meet Garrett Gilbert, a quarterback who again illustrates one of life’s oldest lessons. Networking matters significantly.
With quarterbacks Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen testing positive for COVID this past week, Washington quickly signed Gilbert from the New England Patriots Practice Squad and began the crash course for the Week 15 road game against the Eagles.
But what is Gilbert’s story and whom along the way has he known?
Gilbert after being a Texas Longhorn (2009-11, transferred to SMU (2012-13) where in his senior season Gilbert completed 66.5 percent of his passes (335-504) for 3,528 yards 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
The productive senior season resulted in the St Louis Rams selecting Gilbert in the sixth round (214 overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft, where he was coached by QB Coach Frank Cignetti, Jr.
Cignetti had coached at the University of Pittsburgh as QB Coach and offensive coordinator (2009-2010) where he met a young offensive assistant at Pitt (2008-2009) named Scott Turner.
Gilbert, on the Rams’ practice squad, was waived during the 2014 season and signed to the Patriots practice squad.
Following brief stops with the Lions and Raiders, Gilbert was signed by… you guessed it, the Carolina Panthers (2017) coached by Ron Rivera.
In 2018, Rivera hired Turner to be his quarterbacks’ coach, and who was another quarterback on the 2018 Panthers roster? Why Taylor Heinicke of course.
Gilbert appeared in the season finale of the 2018 season against the Saints, completing two of three passes with a long completion of 31 yards. Heinicke started one game against the Falcons completing 33 of 53 passes for 274 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.
A spot on the roster came with the Browns (2019) and then the Cowboys (2020) which included one start against the Steelers where Gilbert completed 21 of 38 passes for 243 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Of course, we can’t overlook Garrett’s dad.
Garrett Gilbert’s father is Gale Gilbert. That would be the Gale Gilbert who for five seasons was a quarterback for the University of California Bears (1980-1984).
A linebacker on those teams (1980-83) was thought of highly enough by the Chicago Bears that they drafted him in the second round (44 overall) of the 1984 NFL Draft.
That linebacker was of course Ron Rivera.