Payton Wilson

I’m not even sure he needs to add weight. This could be a Jack Lambert situation, where he is just tall.

He already looks like he has unique strength….dude grew up on a farm.

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but I just saw that there is only about six months between Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen. Queen is already on his second NFL contract!!

 

Work muscles are the best kind.

 

I hope that's nothing like light in the loafers.

 

In 2015, he had surgery. Not clear what kind, not sports related.
2017, tore his ACL. Repaired. Graduated high school a semester early and enrolled at NC State in January 2018. Didn't participate in spring practice.
2018, reaggravated knee injury. Could have been another tear, could have just been a setback in healing, but he had a second surgery.
2019, played in every game, wore a knee brace.
2020, last game separated both his right and left shoulders. Popped them back in, and finished the game. Minor surgery to repair labral tears.
2021, more significant injury to left shoulder. Had surgery to add bone to his shoulder socket to keep it from popping out.
2022, missed one game.
2023, played in every game. Sat out bowl game.

The ACL is five and a half years ago. Separated shoulders are a common occurrence, and it's been two and a half years since his surgery. I think his injury history is not as bad as people want to make it.

 

Dr. Friedlander commenting on Payton Wilson:
https://steelersdepot.com/2024/04/entrance-physical-lb-payton-wilson

She is limited by what information is publicly available, but it is more than the unsupported gossip that Rapoport reported.
"SUMMARY
Clean bill of health at this time. Yes, Payton Wilson has had significant injuries and multiple surgeries. He has also been healthy for the last two years and dominated his opponents. More importantly, his risk of reinjury is not significant based on the procedures that he has had."

 

He looks like he has the body type where he is naturally skinny. Its probably a struggle for him to put on weight. Shazier had the same body type. These guys are so twitched up and skinny and the way they play so fast and with a reckless abandon I am not surprised by the injuries. Its always the twitched up athletes who are injury prone.

 

Shoulders scare me, especially the position he plays. Could be why he his upper body is not defined? He can't lift weights?

 

The steal of the draft imho

 

I wouldn't because of his knees. And see how the first year goes.

 

The NFL will adapt his workout regime to help him out.
If he catches on, he could be a very good LB with that speed.

 

Exactly.

Hope the best. But he is high risk.

 

High risk, extremely high reward. Exactly the kind of player you take at the end of the third round.

 

So, it's the good knee that doesn't have the ACL? He had two surgeries to repair the other one, correct?

 

Probably why he tends to tackle higher. Even taking in consideration that he's 6'4". Might be an adjustment to keep his shoulders out of the hit a bit.

 

He was a low 3rd round pick. I'd be upset if this was a 1st round pick.

I think the potential reward is well worth it. He obviously can still play the game at a high level some purport this guy as the best LB in this draft

 

From what I understand his length and range womill work well in coverage down

 

agree bus. i didn't think we would get this kid. very happy about this one. great draft.

 

I was pimping him to the Steelers in the draft forum early on

 

he or james and i didn't think we would get either let alone in the 3rd for wilson. fell nicely to us.

 

ILBs play in the 220’s and 230’s in todays NFL. They are basically slightly larger safeties. I just want the guy to get on the best maintenance routine to protect his body and prevent injury. These twitched up athletes play so physical and hard their ligaments and joints often can’t withstand it.

 

Now it's Your only job....just like you said

 

I've been thinking it over. It's hard for me to be OK taking someone with that much risk. It's not just knees, it's good shoulders as well. 4th round is where I like to take players like that. However it was the end of the third.

If he can stay healthy, he'll honestly probably start as ST. Until he proves he can do more and with staying healthy. The Steelers are slow at letting players start. So I'm honestly unsure if we will see him after week 8 or if it'll be just a few times. Next year is when we will know if he is either going to be the starter or on IR.

The kid has some things to learn as well before that high ceiling starts.

 

Maybe, but they don't just play their starters on defense. They rotate in the backups. He could be the first player off the bench at inside linebacker, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see him get some time on defense.

 

Whats more interesting is the fact that Payton Wilson is a state champion wrestler. Dude knows leverage and has shown the ability to anchor. Thing is, even with that said, he still needs to work on quickly shedding blocks.