Two years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers would have felt confident at inside linebacker. They signed Patrick Queen to a large contract before the 2024 season, after he had a successful start to his career in Baltimore. They hoped he\u2019d help bring along Payton Wilson, whom the Steelers also brought in that offseason with a third-round pick.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, neither of the two has really lived up to expectations so far. Queen has had some very good moments, but there\u2019s been plenty of ugly ones as well. And while Wilson set high expectations for himself, calling himself one of the better cover linebackers<\/a> in the world, he hasn\u2019t been consistent in really any aspect of the position.<\/p>\n However, Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly isn\u2019t losing faith in Wilson just yet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way I look at it is, Payton Wilson, he came as a guy who could run and could cover, right? Well, he struggled covering and running last year,\u201d Kaboly said Friday on his Kaboly + Mack show<\/a>. \u201cNow I think that a little bit, not teaching, but drilling a little bit differently, maybe he\u2019s able to get that back, his coverage abilities. And all of a sudden, you got a star linebacker at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming out of college, Wilson\u2019s main attribute was his ability to defend the pass. He\u2019s athletic for his position, but certainly needed to refine his game against the run. Unfortunately, that just hasn\u2019t happened in Pittsburgh. Wilson made a lot of tackles last year with 126, but that stat can be a little misleading.<\/p>\n Payton Wilson began the season with the Steelers, hoping he could play every down like Queen. They tried that to start the year, but Wilson was just bad against the run. He wasn\u2019t filling gaps correctly, was hesitant to read plays when coming downhill, and took some bad angles. As an NFL linebacker, you can\u2019t be taking angles like this.<\/p>\n