Joe Gilbert enters his third season as offensive line coach with the Carolina Panthers. Gilbert brings 39years of coaching experience to the Panthers, including 14 years of coaching in the NFL.

Joe Gilbert enters his third season as offensive line coach with the Carolina Panthers. Gilbert brings 39years of coaching experience to the Panthers, including 14 years of coaching in the NFL.

In 2025, Gilbert oversaw a unit that showed success despite consistent adversity and change. The Panthers used 11 different starting lineup combinations, tied with the Los Angeles Chargers for the most in the league. Carolina had multiple starters at each offensive line position, while the projected starting lineup of left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, left guard Damien Lewis, center Austin Corbett, right guard Robert Hunt, and right tackle Taylor Moton played a combined 64 snaps together. Only Lewis played more than 900 snaps in 2025, one of nine teams with only a single offensive lineman playing 900+ snaps. Of those nine teams, only the Panthers and Green Bay reached the postseason, with the nine combining for a .369 winning percentage. Despite the lineup changes throughout the season, the Panthers ranked tied for 12th in sacks allowed, while the rushing offense ranked in the top half of the league in yards before contact this season, with only 59 of their rushing attempts having been stuffed (runs for zero or negative yards), tied for the fifth fewest in the league.

In his first season with the Panthers (2024), with the additions of guards Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt, the offensive line reduced their sack totals from 65 in 2023 to 36 in 2024. The unit also paved the way forrunning back Chuba Hubbard to rush for his first career 1,000-yard season. Hunt was named to his first career Pro Bowl under Gilbert's guidance.

Gilbert oversaw the Buccaneers offensive line (2023), as the group continued their success, ranking 10th in the league with a 70.7 Pro Football Focus (PFF) Team Pass Blocking Grade. After making the switch from right tackle to left tackle, Tristan Wirfs finished the season as the fifth-highest graded pass-blocking tackle by PFF (among players with at least 500 blocking snaps) and was named to his third Pro Bowl.

In 2022, Gilbert helped the Buccaneers offensive line withstand the loss of three starters from the season prior, while still maintaining the lowest sacks per pass attempt rate in the NFL (2.8 percent) and coaching tackle Tristan Wirfs to his second Pro Bowl selection in three seasons. The offensive line protected for the NFL's second-ranked passing offense as Tampa Bay amassed 269.8 passing yards per game.

The Buccaneers in 2021 continued to possess one of the league's top offensive line units, allowing a sack on just 3.1% of passing plays, the best in the league. Behind its offensive line, Tampa Bay finished the regular season first in passing yards per game (307.6), second in points per game (30.1), second in total yards per game (405.9), second in third-down percentage (47.1) and third in yards per play (6.06). Three different Buccaneers offensive linemen were selected to the Pro Bowl – center Ryan Jensen, guard Ali Marpet and Wirfs. Wirfs was also selected as a first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in just his second NFL season.

Under the direction of Gilbert and assistant head coach/run game coordinator Harold Goodwin, the Buccaneers also possessed one of the NFL's top offensive lines in 2020, ranking second in sacks allowed per pass attempt (3.4%) and fourth in fewest sacks allowed (22.0). Tampa Bay did not allow a sack five times during the regular season – tied for the second-most by any team in 2020. The Buccaneers offensive line also paved the way for running back Ronald Jones II to set a single-season franchise record with his 5.1 rushing yards per attempt. As a team, Tampa Bay ranked third in the NFL in points scored per game (30.8), fourth in passing yards per game (298.5) and seventh in total offense (384.1) during the regular season.

In his rookie season (2020), Wirfs started all 16 games at right tackle for the Buccaneers, earning PFWA All-Rookie Team honors. He finished the season as one of just two right tackles to have played 750-or-more snaps while allowing one-or-fewer sacks and fewer than 10 quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Focus statistics.

Throughout Tampa Bay's four-game playoff run to a Super Bowl LV victory, the Buccaneers averaged 378.5 total yards per game and 122.5 rushing yards per contest, while allowing one sack or fewer in three of the team's four postseason games.

Gilbert guided an offensive line that aided the Buccaneers in leading the league in pass offense with 302.8 yards per game in 2019. Additionally, Tampa Bay ranked third in the NFL in total offense (397.9) and tied for third in points scored (28.6). Gilbert helped develop then second-year guard Alex Cappa, who started all 13 games that he was healthy for in 2019, after playing in six games with zero starts as a rookie.

Prior to joining the Buccaneers, Gilbert coached the offensive line at the University of Arizona in 2018, where his unit helped the Wildcats lead the Pac-12 in rushing, while allowing the fourth-fewest sacks in the conference. Prior to his time in Tucson, Gilbert was a member of the Indianapolis Colts' coaching staff for six seasons (2012-17). He served as the offensive line coach for three consecutive 11-win seasons (2012-14), during which the Colts ranked eighth in the NFL in points scored and 10th in total offense over that span.

In 2014, despite being forced to use 11 different offensive line starting lineup combinations, Gilbert's unit helped the Colts set franchise records in net yards (6,506) and net passing yards (4,894), while scoring the second-most points (458) in team history.

Before joining the professional ranks, Gilbert spent the previous 25 seasons at the collegiate level, including stops at Albany (1987-88), Pennsylvania (1989-90), Northeastern (1991-93), Maine (1994-99), Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (2000), Toledo (2001-03, 2007), UCF (2004-06), Houston (2008) and Illinois (2009-11). Over that time, he was instrumental in the development of future NFL players such as Nick Kaczur (Toledo), Patrick Brown (UCF), Josh Sitton (UCF), Sebastian Vollmer (Houston), Jon Asamoah (Illinois), Mike Flynn (Maine) and Jeff Allen (Illinois).

A native of Horseheads, N.Y., Gilbert went on to have an All-American playing career at Hamilton (N.Y.) College. He and his wife, Cheryl, have four children – one daughter, Madison, and three sons, Nicholas, Joseph and Timothy.

Coaching Career:

• 1987-88 | Albany - Graduate Assistant
• 1989-90 | Pennsylvania - Assistant Offensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator
• 1991-93 | Northeastern - Offensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator
• 1994-95 | Maine - Offensive Line
• 1996-99 | Maine - Offensive Coordinator
• 2000 | Mansfield (Pa.) - Head Coach
• 2001-03 | Toledo - Offensive Line
• 2004-06 | Central Florida - Offensive Line
• 2007 | Toledo - Tight Ends
• 2008 | Houston - Offensive Line
• 2009 | Illinois - Offensive Line
• 2010-11 | Illinois - Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line
• 2012 | Indianapolis Colts - Assistant Offensive Line
• 2013-15 | Indianapolis Colts - Offensive Line
• 2016-17 | Indianapolis Colts - Assistant Offensive Line
• 2018 | Arizona - Offensive Line
• 2019-23 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Offensive Line
• 2024-Pres. | Carolina Panthers - Offensive Line