Like pretty much everyone else in the Steelers locker room, Marcus Gilbert wants to put the 2017 season behind him.
Despite finishing with a 13-3 regular season record, the Steelers were bounced from the playoffs, 45-42, in a Divisional Round playoff game against Jacksonville, providing a tough pill to swallow for a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.
But while Gilbert can count himself among those still upset with that loss, he's got other reasons to want to put 2017 behind him.
First, the Steelers' starting right tackle missed five games because of two stints dealing with a hamstring injury. Then, he was flagged by the NFL late in the season for using a performance-enhancing drug, resulting in an automatic four-game suspension.
Thoughts of a possible Pro Bowl bid, something that had narrowly eluded him in the past, were out the window. Gilbert was fine with that. It was the elusive Super Bowl that he wanted anyway.
But it was enough for the 30-year-old to spend some extra time doing some soul-searching in the offseason. He spent more time than usual reflecting on the season that was before turning his attention to 2018.
"Not as quickly as usual because I had to digest a lot of things as far as my health and missing games because of that and suspension," Gilbert told me of his offseason. "I looked at how I responded, especially coming off of rest. I had to digest a lot of things and really hone in and see where I was mentally and physically. Then I put it behind me. But I wanted to have that meeting with myself before anything."
What did he learn? That he can deal with adversity and move on, something he might have struggled with a little more earlier in his career.
A second-round pick of the Steelers in 2011, Gilbert won the Joe Greene Great Performance Award as the team's rookie of the year after making 13 starts at right tackle. But he suffered through an injury-plagued second season, tearing two ligaments in his ankle. Gilbert came back in 2013 and beat out Mike Adams for the starting right tackle position. He didn't have the kind of season he would have liked, but the Steelers saw enough in him that they gave him a five-year, $30.8-million contract extension.
Gilbert has responded since by becoming one of the top right tackles in the NFL. But he also knows he has just two years remaining on that deal and time is running out if he wants to win a Super Bowl with the Steelers' offensive line as it is currently configured.
Guard Ramon Foster is 32 and heading into the final season of his contract, while Gilbert and center Maurkice Pouncey, whom Gilbert played with at the University of Florida, are free agents after 2019.
The Steelers have had essentially the same offensive line group together the past three seasons -- a rarity in today's NFL -- and the group is as tight-knit as any you'll see anywhere. It's also talented. But that goal of a Super Bowl remains.
"That’s why we ride together and play," Gilbert told me. "We don’t want to let each other down. But we also want play up to a level. Guys understand that if we want to do this, play well together and be around, because it’s rare that you see this, we’ve got to really make it count."
For Gilbert, that's especially important, because he felt like he let the group down in 2017, not so much because of the injury, but because of the suspension. Gilbert began serving his suspension Nov. 20 of last season and did not appeal the decision because he didn't want it to potentially stretch into the playoffs.
He said he mistakenly ingested a banned substance after getting some bad advice while rehabbing his hamstring and having the game taken away from him for a while was especially tough.
"Yeah, because when you’re on the rise and one thing happens after another, it gets really frustrating," Gilbert said. "When you’re not out there helping your team, it takes the fun out of everything. It was no fun. When your job is to be on the field and playing your position, and you’re on the sideline, it sucks, you know?"
Chris Hubbard made all seven starts in Gilbert's place and turned that into a five-year, $37.5 million contract in the offseason with Cleveland, showing just what a bargain Gilbert's current contract remains. His backup the past few years is now making more than him.
But Gilbert is OK with that. He just wants to be out there full-time this season with his fellow linemen. It's a big reason why none of them took any time off from the team's offseason program. They enjoy one another's company. And they know the team goes as they go.
"Yeah, but I feel like it’s that way for a lot of o-line groups. Five all play together as one," Gilbert said. "If you’re not doing that, there’s no togetherness. We’ve been playing together for so long, I feel like that continuity just grows on you.
"We owed it to each other. If one guy wasn’t out there, it kind of defeats the purpose, especially as offensive linemen. All of us are working together. All of us play together as one. So you demand that."
And Gilbert is demanding a return to form for himself in 2018 after a troubled 2017.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I just want to put it all behind me and be the best player I can be this season, not forget that last season happened, but grow from it."