Payton Wilgar went into last season thinking it would be the end of his collegiate career.
The linebacker was about to be a fifth-year senior at BYU and a four-year starter. All summer, his plan was to lead an experienced defense to a rebound year in 2022 and then pass on the torch as he left for the NFL. As far back as 2021, Wilgar was viewed as an NFL-caliber player.
But as the season unfolded, those plans quickly unraveled. BYU’s defense steeply regressed, finishing 94th in the country. The unit was ravaged by injuries and then-defensive coordinator Iliasa Tuiaki employed a confusing substitution pattern that kept the starters off the field for large portions of the game. After Arkansas hung 52 points on BYU at home — the lowest point of the season — Wilgar suffered a grade-three high-ankle sprain that sidelined him for the remaining six games of the year.
That surefire plan to leave was put in immediate jeopardy.
“It’s so tough. Like, I still kind of think about it to this day, like my decisions and whatnot,” Wilgar said. “I was very torn. And I could have stayed another year. I could come back and been in the Big 12 and whatnot. But I feel like ultimately, the best thing for me and my family was just to get out.”
Wilgar decided to leave BYU and enter the NFL draft process. He understood his stock was not as high as it was before the 2022 season. Could he have come back in 2023 and tried to regain some of what he lost with new defensive coordinator Jay Hill? Yes, and he thought about it. But it was a decision that ultimately came down to logistics.
He is a new father. His wife had a baby before the start of last season. He is expecting a second child in October. The financial constraints are something Wilgar was aware of.
Beyond that, Wilgar has played in 45 college games. He recorded 198 tackles, five interceptions and 12 sacks. He has plenty of film and NFL scouts know him regardless of whether he plays another year. His body of work extended beyond just what happened in 2022.
“I truly believe I can play in the NFL. It’s gonna make no difference doing it this year versus next year,” Wilgar said. “I’ve played a lot of college football. I’ve gotten a lot of film. So I feel like the scouts, you know, there’s enough there that they can watch my film and see how I can play.”
Still, Wilgar knows there are new questions about his health and durability that he must answer. There are even some questions about his production in last year’s system. Those could have been solved by coming back in 2023 and getting in a full season. He could have potentially worked himself back into the draft conversation. Now Wilgar is an undrafted free agent and trying to get into camp somewhere.
But Wilgar also saw the risks of doing that and didn’t want to take the chance.
“Maybe if I come back and have a great year, I get drafted or go higher,” Wilgar said. “But then again, it’s also like you come back and you get injured again. And you know, then what? So I came to the conclusion that leaving this year would be the best option for me and my family.
“Obviously the injuries are probably the biggest red flag on my resume. But if I can go in and show him that I’m healthy now, then I think it’ll be no problem.”
By Wilgar’s estimation, he is 100% healed from the high-ankle sprain that ended his season. He was still dealing with the lingering effects of the eight-week injury at the start of his draft training. He worked with Skyler Mayne, now the director of sports science at BYU, to help with the pre-draft training process.
Wilgar said he talked to about 10 NFL teams in the week leading up to the draft. He believed there was still a shot he could go in the later rounds on Saturday, but the more likely path was always to be signing with a team as a free agent. Wilgar will go to rookie minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend. If he does not sign with the Chiefs, he will go to Buffalo the next week.
“I’m really just looking for an opportunity,” he said.
The lingering question will be: If he had come back to BYU this season, would he be in a better position? But Wilgar has already answered that for himself and he is at peace.
