Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2024 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 14 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.
com. ILB PAYTON WILSON Experience/age: Rookie/24 Contract status: $1.02 million cap hit in 2024, signed through 2027 The past: The younger brother of former Pirates pitcher Bryse Wilson — who’s still in the majors with the Milwaukee Brewers — Payton Wilson remembered coming to Pittsburgh to watch Big Bro.
When Payton arrived in town this spring, it was after being a third-round draft pick as an inside linebacker out of NC State. That No. 98 overall selection was invested in Wilson after a combine in which he stood out with a 4.
43-second 40-yard dash with a 1.54-second 10-yard split (both the fastest or tied for fastest among linebackers). Perhaps more germane to the Steelers’ decision to draft him, Wilson was coming off a season of elite production in which he earned the Chuck Bednarik Award recognizing the best defensive player in college football and the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.
A first-team All-American, Wilson in 2023 was fifth in the FBS with 138 total tackles and tied for seventh with 17 1⁄2 tackles for loss. First Call: Bill Cowher gives a lot of helium to Payton Wilson; an odd Pirates trend https://t.co/EqIhHczfR1 — Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) July 3, 2024 2024 outlook: A state champion high school wrestler , Wilson spent six years at NC State.
No fewer than five injuries caused him to miss time, and he is missing an ACL in a knee after twice sustaining a torn ACL while in college. Those realities help explain why Wilson was not taken with a higher draft pick. But even if his relatively-advanced age (like position mate Patrick Queen, a five-year NFL veteran, Wilson enters camp at age 24) and injury history perhaps suggest a shorter-than-expected NFL career or prime, Wilson has the résumé and skillset to be an impact player in the pros.
The Steelers value a sideline-to-sideline playmaker in their off-ball linebackers, and Wilson has the potential to be one. The beauty of it is he might not have to be an every-down player immediately, not with Queen, veteran Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb in the Steelers’ ILB corps. Holcomb is recovering from a serious knee injury, though, so there would certainly seem to be snaps available quickly for Wilson should he seize the opportunity.
A subpackage role by Week 1 is the most likely scenario..
