At the heart of the impressive performance from the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts was an often overlooked piece, that being second-year linebacker Payton Wilson.
He’s had some struggles this season, seeing his playing time reduced for stretches due to his struggles against the run. He’s also struggled in coverage at times, too, even after telling reporters this offseason that he was the best coverage linebacker in football.
But on Sunday against the Colts, Wilson was terrific. He recorded a career-high 14 tackles, picked off one pass and batted another into the air, leading to rookie Jack Sawyer’s first interception of his career.
Without Wilson’s performance, the Steelers defense might not have been as dominant.
That performance isn’t a surprise to head coach Mike Tomlin, though. In fact, it’s just a continuation of the trajectory he’s on as a good player in the NFL.
“You know, he’s one of those second-year guys that gained a lot of in-helmet experience last year. And so, when you get that, it is reasonable to expect those guys to move forward and take off,” Tomlin said of Wilson, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “Certain guys that don’t get a lot of in-helmet experience, we have that same expectation. Roman [Wilson], Troy Fautanu, for example. And so, Payton got logged a bunch of snaps last year. He’s playing really good ball, but we expect him to, he expects himself to. He’s got a really good relationship with the game. He’s professional. He studies.
“We’ve asked him to stand in for Miles Killebrew as a special teams captain. And so, man, there’s a lot of things trending in the right direction from a career standpoint for him, certainly.”
Wilson saw a lot of valuable playing time last season as a rookie, splitting time with linebacker Elandon Roberts, easing his transition into the NFL. He had some good moments as a rookie, like his fumble return for touchdown against the Bengals and his absurd one-handed interception against the Ravens.
His play as a rookie helped the Steelers decide to make him the starter next to Patrick Queen in Year 2. The inside linebacker tandem looked to be very good on paper. But then the season started, and the struggles commenced.
Wilson lost some snaps to Cole Holcomb and Malik Harrison in recent weeks, but he’s put his head down and played some great football as of late, including on Sunday against the Colts.
The arrow is very clearly pointing up for Wilson, especially as he’s gone through some adversity and is now coming out of it on the other side much stronger, playing high-level football. Adding the captaincy to his resume is important, too, showing his standing within the locker room.
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