I feel bad for Wilson.
His tape isn't spectacularly good, but it was good enough and better than Takitaki's IMO.
I just don't see how anyone could watch Wilson and think he wasn't a top 100 prospect at worst. Probably more like top 75. I personally thought he was a late 2nd, early 3rd round guy even with his warts.
Unfortunately, it sure as shit sounds like the Alabama coaching staff absolutely trashed him to NFL scouts and front office personnel because they were pissed he left early when they strongly recommended him to stick around another year.
Saban's seal of approval or lack-thereof carries a lot of weight in the evaluation process.
That's certainly what it seems. Saban apparently told him to return next year and then all of that happens during the draft process? That, to me, is extremely shady on Saban to blackball a prospect like that.
Wilson, to me, is basically Schobert 2.0. Their athletic profiles are extremely similar and their college builds are nearly identical. Some key things:
-Wilson is a guy who struggles if guys get to him. I won't say that he cannot shed blocks, but he can definitely get ate up by blockers. That's something that Takitaki can do in his sleep, shrugging off blockers is really easy for him.
-When he sees a lane to get into the backfield, he explodes through it. The biggest difference, and one where I could see how he becomes a better MLB than Schobert, is that he's clearly been extremely well taught how to play the position. He has fantastic instincts.
-He's an incredible cover linebacker. We've never seen anyone in Cleveland that can cover like him. Alabama played him a lot in the deep dropping roles, and he had no problems covering guys 20 to 30 yards downfield with easy. His coverage of backs out on the flat was also extremely good.
-I was a big critic of his production. Watching the tape, I can see why. That Alabama defense had a lot of athletes and guys swarming to the ball. It's not like he's breaking the wrong way, just that he's not getting credited for many solo tackles.
-Unlike Takitaki, he's a very good open field tackler. He really knows how to set his base and tackle through a guy rather than diving or arm tackling.
-He's not a sideline to sideline guy. He's a pretty natural straight ahead middle linebacker. When running backs get to the boundary on running plays, he cannot really catch up to them. I don't think that is a major problem, but that's going to be the separator between him and pro bowl linebackers.
I think where they drafted Mack, he's good value. He can be a pretty decent, long term option as a linebacker. He's not Luke Kuechly or LVE, but he can have a really nice, long career, especially with a giant chip on his shoulder. My comparison for him would be D'Q Jackson or Paul Posluszny.
(PS, Q Williams is a goddamn animal. What a friggin beast that guy is, I cannot believe he fell to 3. I think SF will end up regretting that decision.)