He was the 98th player selected overall. Five prospects classified as inside linebackers were taken before him.
But the Pittsburgh Steelers can make a reasonable claim they took the best defensive player in the draft.
After all, Payton Wilson has the hardware to prove it.
An inside linebacker from NC State taken in the third round by the Steelers late Friday night, Wilson is the reigning winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award, annually given to the defensive player of the year in college football.
“He’s a guy we had high on our board,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “A heck of a football player.
“He’s all the things you want in a football player, so to see him where he was (still available) and having an opportunity to get him, we were very happy with that.”
Wilson, who also won the 2023 Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, ranked fifth in the country with 138 tackles and tied for seventh with 17 ½ tackles for loss in 12 games. He had six sacks, three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), six pass break-ups and a forced fumble.
“I think I am one of the most productive players in this year’s draft,” Wilson said in a conference call with Pittsburgh media soon after being selected.
“If I am staying healthy… I feel like I (will be) one of the best linebackers in the NFL.”
Staying healthy, however, has been a major issue for Wilson, who turned 24 last week. He spent six seasons at NC State in part because of missing all of his 2018 freshman season and all but two games of the 2021 season because of injury.
The NFL’s official website provides a synopsis of maladies Wilson has dealt with over the past six years:
• A knee injury suffered as a high school senior kept him out of spring practice as an early enrollee
• A separate knee injury that summer prevented him from playing that fall
• Underwent surgery related to two dislocated shoulders that Wilson played through during a 2020 season in which he was bestowed first-team all-ACC honors
• Wilson’s 2021 season ended after two games because of a shoulder injury
“I think when you turn on my tape, I think you can see that I play with my hair on fire,” Wilson said, “and that’s really because of what I have been through.
“I have seen the game can be taken away from you, so I just play as hard as I can.”
Despite the injury issues to that point, Wilson appeared in 22 of the Wolf Pack’s 23 games played between Sept. 17, 2022, and the end of this past regular season.
“He’s one of those guys who he loves football,” Austin said, “and I think that’s one of the characteristics we look for in (linebackers).”
Wilson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds at the NFL combine, fastest among all linebackers.
“He can really go,” Austin said. “He is a quick-trigger guy. He sees and diagnoses things fairly quickly, and that allows his speed to show up in games.”
Wilson’s older brother, Bryse, is a seven-year veteran MLB pitcher who now is a reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers but from 2021-22 started 28 games for the Pirates.
Payton said he caught a few of his brother’s games at PNC Park that season and noted that Bryse lived in the Strip District.
“It’s one of my favorite cities of all time,” Payton Wilson said of Pittsburgh, where he will soon embark on his own professional career.
