The Pittsburgh Steelers waited until the third round of the draft to take a wide receiver, landing Michigan’s Roman Wilson. While he fits the Steelers profile, it’s fair to question the value they’re getting. They passed on Adonai Mitchell to take C Zach Frazier the previous round. Much of the value at wide receiver came off the board in between those two selections.
It’s hard to pinpoint Wilson’s ceiling as his career evolves, but right now the Steelers are set to put quite a lot on his plate. Outside of George Pickens, they don’t have any notable names in their wide receiver room. Calvin Ausitn III carries over from last season, while they added veterans Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins in March.
Ray Fittipaldo questions the wisdom of doing that, if indeed the Steelers move into 2024 with Roman Wilson starting. He never even had an 800-yard receiving season during his four-year college career, though he scored 12 times in 2023.
“I think he’s gonna be a good player”, Fittipaldo said of Wilson on the North Shore Drive podcast last week. “I think in time he can be a number two receiver in the NFL. but why do you want to put that responsibility on his shoulders as a rookie? To me that would be a little bit unfair. I think that’s why there’s a lot of speculation right now about a move being made”.
That speculation, of course, never materialized into anything concrete, and at this point, it probably won’t. The Steelers reportedly engaged at least the San Francisco 49ers in trade talks for Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel. They obviously passed, however, and opted to draft Roman Wilson in the third round.
But is Wilson your WR2 behind George Pickens from his first day in the NFL? How feasible is that in Arthur Smith’s offense? It’s hard to gauge how much the second receiver will even do. I know we have a lot pf preconceived notions about his “system”, but he’s only coordinated two offenses. He threw the ball around the one year he had Matt Ryan at quarterback, and both A.J. Brown and Corey Davis produced at wide receiver in another.
The Steelers rebuilt their offensive line, however, which is an asset to any plans they may have. And Wilson’s willingness to block will afford him playing time on running downs in addition to passing situations.
Still, if they can manage to bring in a veteran who is worthy of being on the field, perhaps that’s best for Wilson. Is he ready to play 50-plus snaps per game right now, or is he better served having time to develop? The Steelers have rushed rookies when they needed to, with mixed results, but they prefer them to develop over time.
