The Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest addition to the wide receiver room this offseason was supposed to be Roman Wilson. A third-round pick, he had a clear path to a starting job after the team traded Diontae Johnson. Just as he started making noise in training camp, though, he went down with an ankle injury.
Down, of course, but not out, as he should only miss a couple weeks of practice. Wilson should be back for the first game of the season, but will he be up to speed? Will he be in a position in which the Steelers feel as though he can help?
“Unfortunately, that’s what happens in football”, Steelers wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni said of Roman Wilson’s injury, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The rookie suffered an ankle injury during the opening Seven Shots drill in the team’s first padded practice. In the previous two practices, he began turning heads with the plays he made.
“He started making plays and came out of the spring and really was taking off”, Azzanni added of Wilson. “Struggled in the spring a little bit, which is what rookies do sometimes learning the system, learning the NFL way. Came into training camp on a roll and was really, really doing well before the injury. Our challenge is to get him to pick up where he left off”.
A third-round pick out of Michigan, Roman Wilson isn’t the biggest, tallest, or fastest wide receiver. He knows how to run a route, however, and he’s got that dawg in him or whatever young people say these days. In other words, he likes football and is willing to block, I guess. Excuse me, I’m old.
After trading Johnson, the Steelers only restocked their coffers from the bottom shelf in the cereal aisle. Their off-brand haul included Van Jefferson, Quez Watkins, and Scotty Miller, all of whom are still in the mix. Joining George Pickens as the lone returning contributor is Calvin Austin III.
Pickens, Jefferson, and Austin top the Steelers’ starting wide receivers on a fluid depth chart. Wilson joins Watkins and Dez Fitzpatrick as part of the second team, Fitzpatrick a practice squad player last year.
There is a good chance Roman Wilson misses the entirety of the preseason, hindering his ability to prepare for his regular-season debut, a problem of which Azzanni is well aware. “That’s on him, that’s on us”, he said, to prepare him and help him pick up where he left off. “I liked where he was headed before he got hurt”.
Indeed, the Steelers continue to talk about how much they like what they have right now, but there is a certain someone out there who could make this a very different discussion. And then the Steelers wouldn’t have to worry much about how quickly Roman Wilson can contribute.
