The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Payton Wilson.
Payton Wilson's 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6'4"
- Weight: 233 lbs.
- 40-Time: 4.43
- 10-Yard Split: 1.54
- Vertical: 34.5"
- Broad Jump: 9'11"
- 3-Cone: DNP
- Shuttle: DNP
Payton Wilson 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
Strengths
- North Carolina State is a three-man defensive line front defense. Wilson aligned both off the ball and on the ball on the edge.
- Outstanding size and length for stacked LB. Has the versatility to line up in multiple positions.
- Long and athletic with outstanding overall movement. He played fast with speed and range and has a playmaking element.
- Excellent overall movement for a big LB. He showed inside out and sideline-to-sideline range with excellent play speed.
- Has build-up, acceleration speed combined with size and stride length allowing for excellent pursuit.
- Assignment discipline with key and diagnose and lateral stop-and-start quickness from stacked LB alignment.
- Covered ground easily and quickly when kept clean and could run and chase. He made a lot of pursuit plays.
- Showed good understanding and awareness of routes and space as an underneath zone defender. He communicated well.
- Played with a high level of activity and was constantly in motion and movement. He made a lot of plays from the backside.
Weaknesses
- Too upright playing downhill taking on blocks in the run game. Must get stronger and play with better leverage.
- Lacks physicality in the run game. Overall, did not play with physicality, regardless of where he lined up.
- My sense is he cannot play on the edge on the ball. He did not show the needed physicality at POA in the run game.
- Lateral quickness and change of direction are definite concerns. He had a difficult time breaking down to stop.
- Not a strong blitzer. He did not show the kind of downhill burst and explosiveness that’s needed to be an effective rusher.
NFL Transition:
Wilson fits the classic profile of the height/weight/speed LB prospect with his outstanding size and length and play speed and range. He is at his best as a run-and-chase player, maximizing his play speed and range much more than a static stacked box defender tasked with taking on and playing off blocks, which he did not do well in 2023.
Wilson showed an instinctive feel for keeping himself clean, navigating the box to find the ball and make tackles in the run game, and there were significant run game snaps in which he shot gaps and made plays on the offensive side of the ball. A significant concern as you project Wilson to the next level is his lack of play strength and overall physicality, which showed up consistently on tape.
Another question is whether he can match up man-to-man against quality tight ends. His size, length and overall athletic movement would suggest he can, but you did not see that on tape. Wilson is a fascinating evaluation, given he has plus athletic traits, with size, length, play speed and range being critical attributes. Plus, he played multiple positions in North Carolina State's defense.
My sense is Wilson will be projected as a stacked LB; he will not play multiple positions early in his career. While we know he can run and make plays, his ability to be physical in a confined space will be tested at the next level. How he develops in that area will be a significant factor in what he becomes in the NFL.
One player who came to mind as I kept watching Wilson was Pete Werner when he came out of Ohio State with high-level measurables (6'2 ⅞”, 238 pounds with 4.59 40-yard dash and 39 ½” vertical).
OTHER NOTES:
Wilson came out of North Carolina as a 4-star recruit and stayed in-state. He played five years at North Carolina State but missed almost all of the 2021 season with a knee injury.
In 2022, Wilson aligned in different positions in North Carolina State’s defense and was deployed in multiple ways. That included as a pass rusher, blitzing and off the edge and as a coverage defender predominantly in underneath zone.
In 2023, Wilson lined up in multiple positions, including on the ball, and was again deployed as a situational blitzer. There were snaps when Wilson was the post-safety. When North Carolina State went man-to-man, Wilson usually matched up to the running back and green dogged when the back stayed in the backfield as part of the pass protection.
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