Mack Wilson

3 teams in 7 years — and the most productive stretch came after leaving Cleveland.

Wilson started his career as a 52-tackle rookie in Cleveland (2019) — a 5th-round pick out of Alabama who looked like an immediate starter. The next two CLE years (24 tackles each) were a major step back. New England rebuilt him as a sub-package pass-rusher (3.5 sacks in 2023), and Arizona has now turned him into a coverage LB — 6 PDs in 2025, already a career high.

CLE → NE → ARI: tackles per year of 33.3 → 15.0 → 36.0.

The team-by-team profile is unusually clean: Cleveland gave him tackle volume but no pass rush. New England did the opposite — fewer snaps, but he turned them into 5.0 sacks across two years. Arizona has handed him a real role again — back to 30+ tackle seasons, with the bonus of his career-best coverage production (5 and 6 PDs).

Three teams, three roles, same player.

9 career sacks as an off-ball LB — bigger than most pure tacklers manage in a career.

Career totals through 2025: 202 tackles, 18 TFL, 9.0 sacks, 16 QB hits, 24 PDs, 5 forced fumbles. The sack and QB-hit totals stand out for a player labeled as an off-ball LB.

Most MIKE/WILL backers cap out at 3-5 career sacks. Wilson is at 9.0 — concentrated in his two New England seasons (5.0 combined) when the Patriots schemed him into blitz situations.

2024-25: 12 PDs combined — more PDs in two years than in his first five seasons combined.

Wilson's coverage production was scattered in his early career: 7 PDs as a rookie, then 6 total across the next four seasons combined.

Arizona's defensive scheme has unlocked something different: 11 PDs in 2 years, with 6 already in 2025. He's now playing more zone snaps and getting his hands on the ball more often than at any point in his career.

2021 in Cleveland: 24 tackles, 0 TFL, 0 sacks, 0 QB hits, 0 PDs — a wholly empty stat line.

Wilson's third CLE season produced 24 tackles and literally nothing else — 0 in every other defensive category we track here.

It's the clearest 'wrong fit' season on his record, and it's why Cleveland let him leave for nothing the next spring. The rebuild as a pass-rusher (NE) and then as a coverage LB (ARI) only happened after Cleveland gave up on him.