The Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver corps struggled to produce through their first five games. That may not be a huge surprise considering the Steelers failed to land San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk in a trade this offseason. They’re also monitoring the situation with Las Vegas Raiders WR Davante Adams. But what has Steelers fans confused is the lack of involvement from rookie WR Roman Wilson.
Wilson suffered a high-ankle sprain during the early stages of training camp that sidelined him for the rest of camp and the entirety of the preseason. He was finally listed as fully practicing ahead of the Steelers’ Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. But he’s yet to even dress for a game. So what’s going on with Wilson?
“You’re talking about a lot of time missed for a young player,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said during his Thursday press conference via video from beat reporter Mark Kaboly. “He’s working very hard. I would imagine it would happen sooner rather than later, but it’s not like you’ve got to meet a certain metric. A lot of it’s getting back into game shape. It’s just, can you miss all training camp, get your legs back in. It’s not like a guy that played four games and missed a week or two. There’s a lot of football conditioning and certainly [for a] young guy mentally too.”
Steelers OC Arthur Smith on why rookie WR Roman Wilson has yet to get a helmet on game days despite being a full practice participant three weeks in a row. pic.twitter.com/crfKLy7Jiv
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) October 10, 2024
Progress is great, and everyone certainly wants to hear that Roman Wilson is working hard. That should not surprise anyone based on what we know of Wilson’s mentality. But isn’t three weeks of full practice enough to get him up to speed?
The Steelers need more production out of their passing game. George Pickens is the only wide receiver with more than 20 catches through five games. TE Pat Freiermuth is second on the team in catches with 20. The wide receiver with the next-most catches is Van Jefferson with 13, followed closely by Calvin Austin III with 12.
Is Wilson the answer to the wide receiver conundrum? That’s a lot of pressure on a rookie. But the Steelers desperately need help. And with the running game struggling as well, Wilson brings an added dimension of run blocking as well.
So the team and fans alike are hoping that Smith’s assessment of sooner rather than later is true. Perhaps we’ll see Wilson in his first game action Sunday versus the Raiders.
