Through the first four days of training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, some players are emerging in position battles, particularly rookies.
As rookie undrafted free agent cornerback Beanie Bishop Jr. and rookie linebacker Payton Wilson have made plays and turned some heads on the defensive side of the football, rookie receiver Roman Wilson has done the same offensively, not to mention rookie first-round pick Troy Fautanu.
Coming into training camp, Wilson was a guy that had the “most to gain” in the rookie class for the Steelers due to questions at the receiver position, and based on his play through the first few days of training camp, Wilson is generating some attention.
So much so, in fact, that the Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo believes Wilson has already inserted himself into the WR2 discussion for the Steelers.
“…Roman Wilson, who has looked better and better every single day at camp, and I’ll even say has looked good as a rookie receiver in camp,” Fittipaldo said of the Steelers’ rookie receiver during an appearance on the Post-Gazette’s North Shore Drive podcast. “And I think he’s entered himself into the wide receiver two conversation. Not saying he’s won that job, but I think that with the unsolidified situation that is wide receiver two, I think that he’s now at least in play for that.”
Wilson had his best day of camp on Saturday on Day 3. After running with the second- and third-team offenses the first two days, Wilson got some opportunities on Saturday with the first-team offense and made the most of it, hauling in some big plays from quarterback Justin Fields.
During team sessions in 11-on-11, Wilson caught a few passes from Justin Fields for big gains, per Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora on-site at practice, including a 28-yard on a leaping grab on a slot fade.
Though Wilson is primarily projected to be a slot receiver at the NFL level with his size and speed, he plays with great toughness and wins at the catch point rather consistently, which is pretty impressive so far in training camp.
There are still plenty of questions at receiver currently for the Steelers behind Pickens, but there was a lot of excitement following the selection of Wilson in the third round. Pittsburgh reportedly loved Wilson as a player and saw a lot of Hines Ward-like qualities in him coming out of Michigan.
We’ll see how that similar play-style and physical presence shows up when he pads come on for the rookie this week. Even with Wilson being more of a slot receiver than a guy who can play on the boundary, there is no denying his overall ability. He is tough as nails, blocks his tail off and makes some huge plays in contested-catch situations.
He’s putting together some solid days in Latrobe and taking advantage of opportunities presented to him.
There’s still a long way to go between now and the start of the 2024 season, but Wilson is trying to insert himself into the WR2 discussion for the Steelers.
