The Pittsburgh Steelers overhauled their offensive structure this offseason, adding offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and revamping the quarterback room with Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen added. Smith comes to Pittsburgh after stints as the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator and Atlanta Falcons head coach, and rookie receiver Roman Wilson has studied what Smith likes out of his receivers. He told reporters that he’s spent time watching Falcons and Titans film to see how the receivers are used.
“I watched the film in Atlanta and Tennessee. I think it’s just as far as receivers come, details, free will, timing. Things like that, being where you’re supposed to be at all times,” Wilson said via Aaron Becker of Yarbarker.
It’s always good to see rookies putting in that extra effort and studying what their coaches like to see out of their position group. Obviously, Wilson has likely also spent time with Smith at this point and been told what to work on and what Smith wants to see out of him, but putting in the extra work to actually study and see what it looks like on tape is obviously a positive sign.
Wilson played outside a little bit during his time at Michigan, but he’s primarily been a slot receiver for the last two seasons. He said he’s been doing a little bit of both at rookie minicamp and just playing wherever the team tells him.
“I’m just playing wherever they tell me, whether that’s inside, outside, I’m just going there. So it’s probably a little bit of everything right now, maybe.”
He added that he’s comfortable playing both inside and outside in the NFL.
Right now, the Steelers don’t have a really solid option to play outside opposite George Pickens. Arthur Smith does use a lot of condensed sets and doesn’t frequently utilize three receivers, but it remains to be seen whether or not Wilson will primarily function outside or in the slot. It would probably be best for the Steelers if he started out working in the slot, but the team would probably need to add another option to play outside consistently, as their internal options at the moment don’t inspire much confidence.
Wilson’s done his homework though and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him come in and make an impact as a rookie. It’s hard to put any sort of major expectations on a player during his first year in the league, especially a third-round draft pick, but Wilson’s work ethic and versatility are appealing and should open up doors for him to play significant snaps from Day One.
