The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t address the WR position until their third pick at No. 84 in the third round of the draft, but they landed a player in Michigan WR Roman Wilson who many thought would be off the board by then. He stood out at the Senior Bowl and then backed it up with a very solid performance at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine.
But it is not all rave reviews on him from the scouting community. Bob McGinn publishes anonymous scout quotes via the Go Long substack on top prospects at each position and kicked off his series this year with WR talk a couple weeks ago. He had the scouts rank in numbered order their top receivers, and Wilson was at the bottom of the list in 11th place, receiving one fifth-place vote from an anonymous NFL scout.
“One thing you’ve got to consider, [Michigan is] such a run-first offense, he probably needs some time in route mechanics,” said one scout. “But athletically, he can do whatever you want. I would compare him in many ways to Garrett Wilson. He’s that kind of athlete. He can play inside or slot. Good hands, explosive after the catch.”
Fortunately for the Steelers, they also figure to be a run-heavy offense with the investments they made in their offensive line and the two-headed backfield of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Roman Wilson said in a recent interview with Justin Melo of The Draft Network that their mantra in the Michigan WR room was “no block, no rock.” That will be a useful tool to have with a wide receiver giving a full effort as a blocker. It can help turn a five-yard gain into a 15-yard gain.
“He’ll be a starter, primarily in the slot but he showed he can play outside,” said another scout. “Good separation ability. Like his hands. He can be a threat down the field. Plays bigger than his size. He went up there and was able to pluck some balls in 50-50 situations. He can be a solid No. 2.”
With George Pickens on the roster, that is all Wilson will need to be for now. There are definitely some questions as to how he will hold up on the outside rather than playing in the slot. Over the last two years, he logged 626 snaps in the slot to just 214 out wide, with a majority of those wide snaps coming in 2023.
As I warned earlier, the reviews aren’t all positive.
“He’s the most overrated player I’ve seen,” said another scout. “Slot only. All zone production. Not a natural catcher. One of the weakest receivers in the draft. Cannot block to save his life. Has no special-teams value. If he goes to a team that has a slot, he could easily be on practice squad or inactive every week…We’ve got free agents as good as him.”
That is a pretty harsh conclusion on the player that Roman Wilson is. As you can see, even scouts have vastly different opinions on players from other scouts, which is what makes the draft so intriguing. There are first-round busts and undrafted Hall of Famers.
There are highly successful players who will reflect late in their career on the various things said about them when they were coming out of college in scouting reports. Former Steelers WR Antonio Brown, for example, received at least one report that claimed a negative for him was route running, and he turned into one of the best ever at that particular skill.
For what it is worth, Pro Football Focus charted all of Wilson’s routes run against single coverage, and on 26 of his 34 targets he was charted as “open.” PFF also gave him a 99.9 receiving grade on those targets.
