Player: ILB Payton Wilson
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Payton Wilson played arguably the best game of his NFL career Sunday, recording a new high in tackles while delivering splash plays. Not only did he record an interception, he set up another for Jack Sawyer with a batted pass. Still, it’s too early to predict a re-expansion of his role.
The Steelers opened the season aiming to make Payton Wilson something akin to an every-down linebacker. The results of the first few weeks indicated that was asking too much of him, however, so they pared down his workload. Rather than asking him to do everything, the Steelers called upon Cole Holcomb to absorb many early downs.
In most games since Week 3, Wilson had averaged between 45 and 67 percent of the Steelers’ snaps. He played more in one game against the Vikings. On Sunday, he logged 85 percent of the snaps—but why? Holcomb was out due to an illness, so they brought back Malik Harrison to contribute. Harrison had missed most of the season on IR, so his insubstantial role is not indicative of anything about others.
Payton Wilson has seemed to grow more comfortable as the season has gone on, however. It’s certainly possible that the Steelers would review their plans and give him more snaps. Not that they want to take snaps away from Holcomb, who is playing well after a remarkable comeback. But they know Wilson’s talent and pedigree, and you want that on the field if he can handle the volume.
The biggest concern about Payton Wilson at this point is his physicality. Can he use his hands better and work through traffic to make plays? He has plenty of football smarts, instincts, and all that good stuff. But when the Steelers need to be physical, is he physical enough?
It’s worth noting that even with a career-high 14 tackles against the Colts, most of Wilson’s tackles came at the end of successful plays. Now, if you have somebody playing mostly on passing downs at a high-volume tackle position, that’s going to skew the ratio of positive plays on tackles. But if he can help create two turnovers per game, who is going to complain?
With regular season underway and the roster in place, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of that change the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract. Oh, and they also traded some guy named George Pickens, which people found significant.
After a long offseason, we finally know what this Steelers team will look like for the 2025 season. The dust is long settled on both free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft, and now we’re into the real thing. What final moves might the team make, if any? They’ve certainly made a flurry of moves, though some question whether they make much difference. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
