Mike Tomlin often talks about the big jump that players are expected to make going from their rookie season to Year 2. The players who had meaningful experience on the field as rookies are especially expected to make this jump, but it doesn’t always go that way. The term sophomore slump exists for a reason. Pittsburgh Steelers ILB Payton Wilson seems to be hitting all the right notes in his second training camp and looks ready to emerge as a dominant player.

“Wilson has morphed into a different football player,” Mark Kaboly wrote on X. “More than just on the field. A guy who barely spoke last year, Wilson has been one of the more vocal players on the defense, which already has some big personalities. The trash talking, vocal leadership, and the intensity have been off the charts through the first week, and it’s been relentless.

“All that means to me is that he’s much more comfortable in his role—a role where he doesn’t want to come off the field for any reason.”

Aaron Rodgers-to-DK Metcalf connection heating up; Payton Wilson flipped a switch

Mark Kaboly / Steelers Correspondent
For The @PatMcAfeeShow

LATROBE — “It just seems like that.”

Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf pretty much dismissed the premise that every first throw from… pic.twitter.com/LqpLPPOwhs

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) August 1, 2025

Payton Wilson told me before he was drafted at the 2024 Senior Bowl that his goal was to play every snap.

“If we play 90 snaps, I wanna make 90 tackles and I’m not coming off the field,” he said.

He was that type of player at NC State where he won the Butkus and Bednarik awards in his final season. And that level of dominance is starting to look possible at the next level.

With Cole Holcomb and Malik Harrison in the ILB room, it seemed ripe for a healthy rotation in the position next to Patrick Queen. But Wilson is taking control of an every-down role in Pittsburgh.

Mike Tomlin specifically called out Payton Wilson against Kenneth Gainwell as one of his most-anticipated matchups on the first day of padded practice, and he more than responded to that challenge with two wins in the first backs-on-‘backers period Wednesday.

Wilson also thinks of himself as one of the best coverage linebackers in the world. He certainly has the athleticism to back that up.

If Queen and Wilson can both serve in every-down roles, that will only help the defense to fix the communication issues that have been running rampant in recent years. And it sounds like Wilson is making himself an asset by being a vocal leader in that area.

When he was drafted at the very end of the third round, he was labeled one of the draft’s biggest steals by many analysts. I think he’s starting to prove that take right.