Former Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Taylor Lewan has spent years on Bussin’ With The Boys talking shop with current and former players alongside his teammate Will Compton. But when they sat with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones recently, the conversation shifted to the wildest teammates they’ve had so far. Lewan, never missing a beat, pointed to the experience he had watching fellow OT Isaiah Wilson.

“The wildest teammate I ever had was Isaiah Wilson. He was 2020 Georgia offensive lineman first-round pick. He was crazy, dude. He would fall asleep in meetings,” Lewan said on Bussin’ With The Boys. “Dude was a specimen. Shoulders like this, he was like the same size waist as me, giant legs, nimble, had all the tools to be another Trent Williams. He had that type of ability.”

Hearing Lewan’s take, someone from the back shouted, “Biggest bust in Titans history.” A chorus of laughter followed, after which Lewan agreed and went on.

“He is,” Lewan said. “And I just remember being around this cat, dude. He would fall asleep anywhere. He would go out late at night, he’d come and smelling like booze. And the weird thing is his retention was incredible. Like, he’d be asleep in meetings, and then our coach would wake him up and be like, ‘Hey, 19 Zoro, what do you have?’ He’d be like, ‘Uh, double to the mic.’ And like, ‘how do you f***** know that?’ [Coach’s] like, ‘What is this?’ Says, ‘Over Samson the ball.’ And it’s like oh my God.

“I’d be there talking notes 8 years in being, ‘I got to figure all this s*** out.’ He just knew it right away. And it’s such a bummer cause he had all the f***** tools, man.”

Wilson’s NFL career adds context to Lewan’s frustration. The Titans’ 29th overall pick in 2020 played just one game and four snaps – three on offense, one on special teams – before a suspension for violating team rules, a DUI arrest, and a 140-mph police chase ended his Tennessee tenure. The Dolphins executed a trade for Wilson in March 2021, but that stint only lasted three days as Wilson missed workouts and showed up late for his physical.

He landed on the Giants’ practice squad next, and stayed with them till January 2022. Even though he’d never play again, the NFL handed him a three-game suspension in 2023 – to be implemented in case he suited up again. And all of this happened with a player who, per Taylor Lewan, could have been as successful as Niners OT Trent Williams.

Williams has carved out one of the best offensive line careers in NFL history. The Niners’ left tackle has started 203 of 204 career games, earned 12 Pro Bowl nods, and five All-Pro honors. Seeing him as a franchise cornerstone, the Niners have also given him a two-year, $50M extension this April.

That’s the gap. Isaiah Wilson entered the league as a consensus five-star recruit, a second-team All-SEC lineman at Georgia, and a 309-pound athlete with rare agility for his build. The Titans expected Wilson to compete for the right tackle job in 2020, and instead watched a first-round talent go nowhere.

Wilson’s talent was very real. His choices off the field turned a franchise investment into a cautionary tale faster than most first-rounders ever manage. Taylor Lewan closed the story by calling it a bummer, and perhaps that is just the right word. Wilson had the tools to be as great as Trent Williams. He just never stuck with them long enough to find out how far they’d take him.