When the Pittsburgh Steelers took Payton Wilson with the 98th overall pick in last week’s NFL Draft, some called it a steal, while others said it was too big of a risk.

As for the Steelers, they believe the reward outweighs the risk. Wilson, who at one time was considered a first-round selection and the best linebacker in the draft, slipped to the Steelers in the third round because word got out he doesn’t have an ACL in one knee.

However, that didn’t bother the Steelers, who were expecting to draft an inside linebacker in the mid-to-late rounds. They just weren’t expecting Wilson to still be there when they were on the clock.

“We had him graded really high and he was still sitting there with our second third-round pick,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan said on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday. “We would not have done it unless our doctors had not given us the go-ahead. Our medical team is second-to-none. Our head trainer Gabe Amponsah and our doctors—Dr. Jim Bradley, Dr. [David] Okonkwo and Dr. Aaron Mares—they are second-to-none and we trust them completely.

“If they would not have given us the clearance, we would not have taken him.”

But they got the clearance and in return, the Steelers got the best linebacker in the draft.

“Payton has a great future and we hope he reaches that,” Khan said.

This past season, Wilson won the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker, while winning the Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player.

In his NC State career, the 6-foot-3, 234-pound backer tallied 402 tackles, including 202 solo tackles. He also had 15 sacks, seven interceptions and 20 passes broken up in his 46-game college career.

After returning from injury, he became the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He also was a First-Team All-American and a First-Team All-ACC selection.

Wilson averaged 11.7 tackles per game last fall, which led the ACC and ranked fifth nationally. He also had 17.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage on his way to being just the fourth unanimous All-American in NC State history.

“He loves football,” Khan said.