Despite Roman Wilson practicing in full for the past week, we don’t know when he will make his Steelers debut. The rookie wide receiver has missed the first three games, including last Sunday’s game, as a healthy scratch. While he hopes to play in Week 4, he also hoped to play last week. But if one trusts Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he will have to just enjoy the view.
During his latest chat session, Dulac fielded a quick question about Roman Wilson, asking if he will dress on Sunday. “Probably not”, he responded, adding that it’s “Going to be a while” before he does. Of course, if it’s going to be a while then it’s more than merely probable that he doesn’t play Sunday.
What Dulac says is eminently plausible, however, given what we know. We know, for example, that Wilson didn’t play last week despite being healthy and getting nearly a full practice week. And we know that head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t exactly sound like he plans to dress him as soon as possible. After all, he has Cordarrelle Patterson on whom to fall back as a fifth receiver when necessary.
Another thing to consider is the fact that the Steelers’ other receivers behind George Pickens stepped up Sunday. Calvin Austin III had four catches for 95 yards and a touchdown, Scotty Miller two for 31. Even Patterson caught three passes. With more ball distribution needed for the tight ends and running backs, there is no obvious fit for Wilson.
A 2024 third-round draft pick, Wilson started turning heads at the outset of training camp. However, he suffered an evidently significant ankle injury on the fourth practice in Latrobe. It has taken him nearly this long to get healthy enough to play, missing a major chunk of on-field development time that is particularly crucial for rookies.
As I pointed out earlier today, while Tomlin didn’t hesitate to play Troy Fautanu, Fautanu at least played before suffering a knee sprain. He managed a full half of a preseason game, and practiced up to that point, including work in pads, obviously. Wilson hasn’t even been in pads for more than 10 minutes, unless the Steelers had a padded practice the past two weeks.
At 3-0, we can reasonably say that the Steelers aren’t in a rush to dress Roman Wilson. They are not fielding an offense predicated on a high-volume passing game. While Wilson can be a positive contributor, what they are doing already is working, and increasingly so.
There’s nothing saying Wilson doesn’t still have a bright future ahead of him, but he is starting behind the curve. Through no fault of his own, he missed crucial developmental time due to injury, and he has a lot of catching up to do.
The bottom line is Roman Wilson has to prove on the practice field he is one of the best receivers. He is still just getting back to practice, this potentially his first full week from end to end. Perhaps we will see him on the field on Sunday. I don’t think that would surprise anyone. But after failing to dress last week, we can’t be surprised if it keeps happening for a while as well.
