Payton Wilson made five tackles in his 2025 debut for the Steelers, but you might not have noticed his presence. Of his five tackles, he only made one impact play, tackling Justin Fields for a loss of 4 on a 3-and-1 play and forcing a field goal. On his other tackles, you\u2019ll find him chasing down plays beyond the first-down marker.<\/p>\n
For all the hype that surrounded Wilson entering his second season, he underwhelmed in the opener. Granted, you could say the same for just about everybody on defense, but he stuck out in a bad way for Chris Hoke. The former Steelers DL, now an analyst, called out the talented ILB on KDKA\u2019s Nightly Sports Call.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo-show by Payton Wilson in the tackles. You\u2019re an inside linebacker, you\u2019ve got to be one of the top two or three guys in tackles in the game\u201d, he said<\/a>. \u201cDidn\u2019t see a lot of him. I think that\u2019s what he meant at halftime when Coach [Mike] Tomlin was talking about guys getting on, getting off blocks, shedding blocks, making plays. He\u2019s one of those guys. He\u2019s got to look at the film and improve. I believe that he did not get off blocks enough and needs to make more plays for this Steelers defense\u201d.<\/p>\n Payton Wilson finished in a four-way tie for the fifth-most tackles on the team. That included Chuck Clark, who only played half the game after DeShon Elliott\u2019s injury. And Elliott had six tackles before he left. Patrick Queen finished with eight tackles, as did Alex Highsmith.<\/p>\n In a game in which the defense gave up 32 points and forced no turnovers, the inside linebackers underwhelmed. Queen, at least, stepped up to make a play late with a key pressure. Payton Wilson felt pretty anonymous for most of the game, despite the Jets\u2019 run-heavy approach.<\/p>\n