Are OTA reports about WR Roman Wilson not looking ready cause for concern?
Any reports coming out of OTAs automatically qualify as premature, at best. As long as a player makes it out the other end, you’re probably good. Still, multiple beat writers seem not to have come away dazzled by their first impressions of Roman Wilson.
The Steelers’ third-round draft pick, Wilson is not very big in either height nor weight. As they so, though, you can’t measure heart, and it’s not like they didn’t know his measurements beforehand. Head coach Mike Tomlin saw Wilson up close extensively during the pre-draft process.
Yet the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s reporters, for example, set higher expectations than what they saw. Ray Fittipaldo indicated that Wilson is too small and needs to “fill out” his frame. More directly, Brian Batko observed that he “didn’t quite look as ready to contribute” as he anticipated.
Given the Steelers’ current wide receiver situation, getting a ready-to-go rookie would be quite beneficial. They only have George Pickens as a “proven” commodity, filled out by veteran journeymen and Roman Wilson, the undersized, unprepared rookie. Or so accounts from select beat writers indicate, at least.
But, again, we’re talking about OTAs. This is a time of year that is dedicated to instruction and installation, first and foremost. Even the coaches aren’t really doing much “evaluation” at this point. And that is undoubtedly especially true of rookies like Wilson, who have so much more to learn.
At the same time, Wilson is a wide receiver, one of the positions conducive to looking good in shorts. You aren’t even in pads yet, so all you’re doing is running around and catching passes. So if Wilson isn’t looking all that amazing right now, who’s to say training camp will be any different?
Ultimately, OTA reports are the only thing we have to go on right now. Even some preliminary concerns don’t take away Wilson’s authorship of his own fate. He is not going to get much bigger, but he can certainly look better. During OTAs, he was focusing on breaking some habits and learning new ones. You are bound to look a little choppy while doing that, because you’re not doing what you normally do.
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason ahead.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? Will he play just one season in Pittsburgh before moving on, or the Steelers moving on from him? How will the team address the depth chart?
The Steelers are past free agency and the draft and their roster for the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
