The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Roman Wilson in the third round as part of their efforts to replace Diontae Johnson. Since then, they have made serious overtures for some big names on the trade market but came up short. They will have to play one of those names on Sunday in Davante Adams—but will Wilson play?
He hasn’t for most of the season. While he spent some of that time recovering from injury, Wilson served as a healthy scratch for at least a couple weeks. He finally dressed last week, but he only played five snaps, mostly on running plays.
The rookie appreciated the opportunity to make his debut and is looking for more. Asked if he expects to see more playing time this week, he told the Steelers’ website, “I hope so. I always expect to play; I always get my mind ready for that and just try to get better every day”.
A third-round selection out of Michigan, Roman Wilson has route-running chops and pound-for-pound physicality. But as a rookie, he is also way behind the 8-ball after injuring his ankle early in training camp. He missed all but the first three-plus days of camp, then all of the preseason. He even spent the first few weeks of the regular season still working up to 100 percent.
Wilson was presumably at 100 percent capacity now, but he popped up on the injury report yesterday with a hamstring injury. Assuming he is a full participant today and has no game status, that still doesn’t mean the Steelers have a role for him. Even when fully healthy, they haven’t had one up until this point. They have even used Cordarrelle Patterson as a wide receiver ahead of him. The first two weeks of the season, they promoted Ben Skowronek from the practice squad.
Six weeks into the regular season do the Steelers finally feel that Roman Wilson knows what he’s doing? Would a change at the quarterback position coincide with his skill set being more in demand? After all, if they start throwing the ball more, they might need more people to throw to.
Wilson just wants to play, and as he said, he expects to play every week. He only has a few snaps under his belt, but he feels ready. “It just felt like ball out there”, he said, assessing his debut. “Guys are good. Guys are moving a little bit faster out there. But at the end of the day, it’s still football”.
Of course, he hasn’t had to try to catch a pass over the middle in traffic yet. It’s still football, but the people playing it are a lot better than those he faced most weeks in Michigan. And for a rookie like Wilson, missing so many physical reps makes it that much harder to jump in midseason.
But the Steelers have to like his attitude. He always expects to play, and he always prepares as if he is playing. The only question is if Roman Wilson has reached the level of preparedness that give the Steelers comfort to play him. And, of course, if he is healthy enough to get the work during the week necessary to play on Sundays. Because I’ll tell you something: Scotty Miller isn’t exactly a special teams ace, yet they find him snaps. He and his two catches on two targets, surely something Wilson could handle.
