Pittsburgh Steelers rookie ILB Payton Wilson played 24 snaps in his NFL debut, which was one more than Elandon Roberts. Coaches never shied away from their plans to put him on the field right away, but that was a heavy volume right out of the game for a defense that ostensibly already had a starter. This past week, the team cautioned that weekly game plans will dictate different snap distributions, but the rookie isn’t going anywhere.
During his 24 snaps, Wilson recorded three tackles, including one that saved a touchdown on the opening drive. If you’re going to peak in your NFL debut early, it might as well be with a play like that. Three tackles might not sound like a lot, but they were one more than Patrick Queen. He assessed his play after the game, via the Steelers’ website.
“Individually, I think that I made some plays. Still some things that I can work on”, Wilson said. “Continue to play faster and understand the defense better. As a defense, I think we played well. After that first drive, [we] kind of settled in and were clicking on all cylinders. But like I said, as a team, we still have a lot to work on, a lot to get better”.
Wilson’s other two tackles came on the Falcons’ final drive before half time. He paired with Montravius Adams on a three-yard run on 2nd and 1, later tackling Bijan Robinson after a five-yard gain on 3rd and 4. That doesn’t read so wonderfully on paper, but they were solid efforts individually despite the defensive failure.
A source no less than T.J. Watt praised Payton Wilson’s game, after all, and it’s hard to argue against that. Again, he split snaps with Elandon Roberts, but he is off to a fine start. As for Roberts, he actually didn’t register a tackle during the game.
In case your math isn’t mathing, that means the Steelers’ entire inside linebacker corps produced five defensive tackles—and Payton Wilson had the majority of them. Now, the Falcons’ offense largely ran away from center, and the defensive line cleaned up a lot. By no means is that citation supposed to be an indictment of the group, though it is still growing.
The Steelers’ next opponent is the Denver Broncos, and I see no reason why Pittsburgh’s game plan would not favor Wilson again. With new QB Bo Nix in tow, they are going to be throwing the ball. I will not be surprised if he continues to see his snap share climb throughout the first half of the season.
I don’t know that the Steelers ever entirely replace Elandon Roberts this year, though. They like and respect him too much, and he is a physical, imposing enforcer. Payton Wilson is many things, but he is not quite a “tooth chipper”, as Mike Tomlin called Roberts.
The Steelers favored a three-player rotation at inside linebacker last season with Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander joining Roberts. Both of them suffered season-ending injuries in consecutive weeks, however. Now they have Queen, Roberts, and the rookie Wilson. Even if it wasn’t highly productive, I think they debuted well with plenty of upside.
