Cornerback Justin Gilbert has been considered a gargantuan bust since the Browns drafted him eighth overall in 2014, but they had better hope he doesn't turn his career around because he's heading to the AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns announced they traded Gilbert to the Steelers on Saturday for a 2018 sixth-round pick.
On Friday, Browns coach Hue Jackson made it clear Gilbert, 24, was on the roster bubble and in jeopardy of being released by the NFL's cutdown deadline Saturday.
"Justin did some things better (in the preseason)," Jackson said Friday during a conference call. "I think everything has an opportunity to be evaluated, everything that every player's done. Our goal and our job is to make sure that we keep the best players here.
"Do I think he's improved? Yeah. Are we going to sit down and evaluate and talk through every opportunity that a young man has had and we can see where they fit for our football team? We're going to do that also."
Gilbert, who received nearly $13 million guaranteed on his rookie contract, suffered a concussion Aug. 26 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and didn't play Thursday night during a 21-7 loss to the Chicago Bears in the exhibition finale.
The Oklahoma State product had been a huge disappointment in his first two NFL seasons under the previous Browns coaching staff.
He appeared in just 23 of 32 games with three starts, compiling 29 tackles, nine passes defensed and an interception, which he returned for a touchdown.
Plagued by maturity problems and an undisclosed personal issue, Gilbert was a healthy scratch three times last season and once in 2014.
As a rookie, he was late to a team meeting the night before the season finale and subsequently suspended for the game. He later admitted he "was missing like tons of meetings" partly because he's a "hard sleeper." Last year, he crashed a car two days before the season opener during what Brunswick police described as a road rage incident.
Gilbert's exit means neither of the Browns' first-round picks from 2014 are with the franchise. Troubled quarterback Johnny Manziel, the 22nd overall choice two years ago, was cut in March.
All six players the Browns drafted in the first round from 2011-14 are gone. They are defensive tackle Phil Taylor (No. 21 overall), running back Trent Richardson (No. 3), quarterback Brandon Weeden (No. 22), linebacker Barkevious Mingo (No. 6), Gilbert (No. 8) and Manziel (No. 22).
The Browns' new regime has traded two former first-round picks in a span of 10 days. On Aug. 25, the Browns shipped Mingo, the sixth overall selection in 2013, to the New England Patriots in exchange for a fifth-round choice in 2017.
