Wilson was one of the most intriguing players I watched in evaluation after the draft—I won't claim to have seen him prior to the pick—and I saw a lot of talent to work with. He is a typical Illinois defensive back: Physical, versatile, has issues with his back to the ball in coverage, but there's upside. His versatility stood out immediately because he aligned in a plethora of areas on the field such as safety, boundary cornerback, field cornerback or in the box. The versatility of Wilson was a big reason why he was drafted so high, and it was explained by his former defensive coordinator Vic Koenning: '“The spread offense in the NFL has kind of made linebackers obsolete in many ways. Offenses can now work on mismatches with linebackers in the passing game. If you have a safety that’s big enough who won’t embarrass themselves in run support, you have the best of both worlds."
Koenning's comments bring up a good point about sub-packages and how teams are having issues getting enough quality run defenders in the box while also being prepared against the pass. He showed at Illinois he can play in the box as a run defender, and he's shown he can be effective as a blitzer with his good balance, foot speed and physicality. This versatility is most likely the most significant reason the Patriots decided to spend a second-round pick on him, despite many believing he was not valued as one by draft pundits. When evaluating the draft selection, it's important to keep in mind the trend of today's NFL, which is seeing a lot of multiple receiver sets that force defenses to utilize multiple personnel groupings (sub-packages) in order to defend the pass. This leads to teams having issues against the run, consequently opening up the entire playbook for the offense.
Although he needs to clean up his technique, Wilson's performance last season was good, and he has the potential to develop into a starter, which is what you ask for from a second-round draft choice.