Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Payton Wilson is already a fan-favorite without ever taking a snap.
The 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year was a guy projected to go as early as the latter stages of the first round by several draft experts, but slid all the way to the Steelers with the 98th overall pick in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
There are a myriad of reasons and excuses teams will use, and likely have used in-house as to why they didn’t draft Wilson. And one person who is certain that the rest of the league will regret not taking the star linebacker is North Carolina State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tony Gibson, who spoke to me about his former player.