The Pittsburgh Steelers added to their inside linebacker room this offseason with the addition of Patrick Queen and later drafted Payton Wilson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bednarik Award winner as the best defensive player in college football last season, Wilson has drawn praise from his coaches throughout camp, but he had a bit of an up-and-down preseason opener with two missed tackles.
Inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry, who Wilson has praised often throughout the offseason, said that the rookie linebacker was “more than ready for the moment” but just played a little bit too fast, which Curry is confident he can fix.
“Most rookies aren’t ready for the moment,” Curry said. “He was more than ready for the moment. He has such a ball-seeking and ball-hawking mentality that it caused him at times to play a little bit faster than what he needed to be playing,” Curry said via Jeff Hathhorn of 93.7 The Fan.
Curry added that once Wilson finds his rhythm, he’s going to make more plays.
“Once he finds his rhythm and his tempo and his calmness in his play, he’ll begin to make more plays.”
Payton Wilson was still always around the ball in the preseason opener, and he did finish with seven total tackles and five solo tackles, so it wasn’t a bad showing by any means. But obviously, the team wants to eliminate missed tackles, and his having two in the preseason opener is definitely notable.
The Steelers also have a lot of experience ahead of Wilson in the inside linebacker room, with Queen and Elandon Roberts, who are both expected to start. Wilson is going to play still, and he’s an option to play in dime packages, but the Steelers don’t need to rush him onto the field. It will be important to make sure he’s ready to roll without making as many rookie mistakes as possible.
The two missed tackles certainly aren’t anything to be too worried about. As Curry said, most rookies aren’t ready, whereas he viewed Wilson as “more than ready,” which had him playing faster than he should. It didn’t take him long to make plays when he was on the field, but he just has to let the game slow down just a bit for him to be more of a consistent contributor.
Wilson’s performance was more up than down. He played 44 snaps and was flying all over the field, but the coaching staff is going to work on correcting the missed tackles, which were the only real minus in an otherwise solid performance.
