Gilbert was a roster redundancy after the Raiders acquired Jarrett Stidham. Now on the wrong side of 30, 2014 sixth-rounder Gilbert has been forced into emergency starts each of the past two years, though they are the only two starts of his entire career. He has poor odds of latching on elsewhere and making someone's 53-man roster, at least out of camp. 

Gilbert, a career backup, made a Week 15 spot for Washington with Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen on the reserve/COVID list. He played better than expected given the short notice, completing 65% of passes in a loss to the Eagles.  Gilbert replaces Marcus Mariota as the only quarterback on the roster behind Derek Carr, making him the favorite for the No. 2 role.

It was honestly pretty good for a guy who hadn't started a game since 2020 and had no prior experience with the offense. Gilbert's offensive line was shoved around by Philadelphia -- every single Eagles pass rusher on the Next Gen Stats defensive pass rush chart beat the average quarterback separation by at least 0.72 yards -- and he managed to throw to the sideline at times despite having his motion interrupted. Gilbert's biggest sin was an inability to fit tight throws over the middle, as he had a few passes deflected over the middle. This isn't to say that Washington should turn to Gilbert full-time or anything, but considering the circumstances, he played a better game than you might have expected. In all likelihood, Taylor Heinicke or Kyle Allen will start in Week 16 against Dallas. 

Even in pushing this one back 48 hours to cater to Washington's COVID outbreak, both Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen were unable to clear protocol. Gilbert, formerly of New England's practice squad, will instead get the nod for his second career start with only 72 hours of Washington's playbook under his belt. McLaurin, albeit available unlike a number of players around the league, is a risky WR2 from Gilbert.