The Pittsburgh Steelers landed one of the biggest steals of the draft in ILB Payton Wilson at the tail end of the third round. The first off-ball linebacker was taken in the first half of the second round, and then four more went in the third round prior to Wilson. Based on his talent and accomplishments in college, there is a strong argument to be made that he should have been the first of the bunch drafted, but injury concerns pushed him down the draft board.
Coming from NC State, Wilson shares a background as an inside linebacker for that program with former Steelers head coach and Hall of Famer Bill Cowher. Wilson has talked about his interactions with Cowher during his time at NC State. Last year, Cowher was inducted into the Wolfpack’s Ring of Honor, so he attended some games and spoke to the team while Wilson was there. He called Cowher one of his idols.
Cowher was interviewed on the Steelers’ website by Teresa Varley and had some great things to say about Wilson.
“His athletic ability speaks for itself. It’s off the charts. Some people run fast, but they don’t play fast. Payton runs fast and he plays fast,” Cowher said. “He has great cover ability. It’s probably made more for today’s game than back even 10 or 15 years ago because it’s a very wide-open game. It’s a game of speed, angles, and understanding the concepts of football. He has all of that. He’s proven that the last couple of years with his productivity.”
It is one thing when a player has all the physical tools to be a special player coming out of college, but they don’t have the tape and production to back it up. For Payton Wilson, he has the rare combination of both. He won the Bednarik and Butkus awards last year for the defensive player of the year and linebacker of the year in college football.
He tallied 138 total tackles, 69 solo tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, three interceptions, three pass breakups, one forced fumble, and a defensive touchdown in 12 games last season.
It will be interesting to see how the Steelers work Wilson into the rotation at inside linebacker this season. If Cole Holcomb returns, which he appears to be trending in that direction, then that makes four highly capable players at the position. Wilson and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin have spoken about his potential to play dime linebacker in sub-package football due to his speed and coverage abilities. That would be a good foot in the door for him to get some NFL reps until he is needed in a bigger role.
Wilson thinks he can be one of the best linebackers in the world, and he seems to have the work ethic, natural abilities and determination to have a chance at making that happen.
