It is still early in training camp, and the pads haven’t come on, but the beginnings of the wide receiver competition are starting to play out at Saint Vincent College for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For Day 3, rookie WR Roman Wilson was the star of the show.
Throughout the first couple days of practice, the top three wide receivers were almost exclusively George Pickens and Van Jefferson on the outside, and Calvin Austin III in the slot. Wilson got more opportunities today with the first-team offense, and he made the most of them.
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.
Wilson was selected in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, but reports indicated the Steelers had interest in taking him in the second round if C Zach Frazier hadn’t been available. He was one of the stars of the Senior Bowl where the Steelers had a large contingent of coaches, execs, and scouts present. Tomlin specifically challenged Wilson and CB Quinyon Mitchell—who ended up being the first cornerback taken in the draft—to match up against each other at Senior Bowl practices. Wilson got the better of Mitchell on some of those reps.
He comes from a run-first offense at the University of Michigan. He didn’t run a full complement of pro routes in college as a result, but he excelled at what he was asked to do for the 2023 national championship team.
Reports leading up to camp from some of the Steelers beat writers indicated Wilson looked less ready to contribute than expected. We can’t draw any hard conclusions from one strong day before the pads come on at camp, but it is a good sign for the rookie and his overall trajectory to be making the most of the first-team reps he receives.
Now it will be about stacking good days for him and performing well when the pads come on. If that continues, then Wilson could definitely make an impact in Year 1 for this offense.
