On the first day of padded practice, and on the only jet sweep play of training camp thus far, rookie WR Roman Wilson’s ankle was injured while being tackled. Mike Tomlin described him as being week-to-week with an ankle sprain shortly after the injury occurred.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette insider Gerry Dulac reported shortly after that it was expected to hold him out for about two weeks.
They had him walking around in a boot for a few days as a precaution. After he shed the boot, he was still wearing a brace. At today’s practice, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor posted a photo on X that showed Wilson walking around with no brace.
Our Alex Kozora also noted on Tuesday that Wilson was walking down the stairs and hill coming down to the practice field, which is obviously a good sign for his ankle.
He obviously won’t be playing in the first preseason game tomorrow against the Houston Texans, but this is a positive sign for him with two more preseason games to play. Prior to the injury, Wilson was starting to emerge as a serious weapon in the offense with a solid performance at training camp. The hope is that he can return for at least one preseason game to get some in-game experience before debuting in the regular season next month.
WR coach Zach Azzanni even noted that Wilson was really starting to take off before the injury. Per Kozora’s charting of training camp stats, Roman Wilson caught all seven of his targets prior to getting injured for 97 yards and a touchdown, including two receptions for 20 or more yards.
It shouldn’t be long before Wilson starts to jog on the sidelines or goes through warmups with the team as he checks off the next box in his recovery.
