Second year Lion is looking a little more like his All-Pro brother with each passing day
The Detroit Lions went out and completely rebuilt their cornerback room this offseason. They rebuilt it so much that only a small handful of guys remain with the team. It's been fair to think that small handful could have an uphill battle to make the roster, but one guy has always been penciled in and […]
The Detroit Lions went out and completely rebuilt their cornerback room this offseason. They rebuilt it so much that only a small handful of guys remain with the team.
It's been fair to think that small handful could have an uphill battle to make the roster, but one guy has always been penciled in and that's Steven Gilmore. After OTAs, minicamp and the first week of training camp, it's might be time to start thinking about using ink.
Gilmore came on as an undrafted rookie out of Marshall. He was expected to be drafted on day three, but his name was surprisingly never called despite a solid college career.
The Lions grabbed him and right away he started making some noise and trending up the depth chart. It was the preseason that really solidified that he was going to make the roster. He walked out with two interceptions and four pass breakups in three games.
While Gilmore made the 53-man roster, it was clear that he wasn't ready to start or even play, but maybe he would be down the stretch. The Lions would only play him for two snaps against the ravens and that was it. But it was very notable that the Lions continued to keep him on the 53-man roster no matter what.
This was a team that had a lot of injured players coming back from injured reserve at the end of the season and the Lions refused to take a chance of letting Gilmore hit the waiver wire. They could have waived him at any moment to make room for guys that were actually playing and they didn't. That says a lot.
Now that we get to training camp this year you can see what the Lions were thinking. Gilmore is starting to look like his All-Pro brother Stephon Gilmore out there. You can't go a day without seeing him break up a pass. If they were tracking this stat at camp, there's a chance Gilmore could be leading the team. Still, Dan Campbell is looking to see just a little bit more from Gilmore.
"Gilmore's got ability, and I still feel like he needs a whole nother notch. He can take a whole nother notch up. You know. He's got, he's got natural instincts, he's pretty competitive, cover skills, and so he's one of those guys. Look, he's worked at it, but I would I expect more out of him. I just do because I think he's an instinctive player, so we need him to take a big jump this training camp. And I would say, to this point, after these five days, he's done a good job."
Gilmore still has Carlton Davis, Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw and Amik Robertson ahead of him, but he should definitely be on the 53-man roster again in 2024 and we should see him take the field. But if he hits that extra notch, who knows what we could see.
Until then, the Lions play their first preseason game against the Giants very soon and we'll get to see if he can put up more highlights like he did last summer.
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