Roman Wilson may have had his 21-day practice window opened earlier this week, but that doesn’t mean you should expect to see him catching passes in a game anytime soon. The Pittsburgh Steelers have proven how slow they are to integrate newcomers into their offense this year with Mike Williams. And Williams is a veteran while Wilson is a rookie.
With the Steelers’ issues at the wide receiver position, it’s understandable why some could be looking at the rookie third-round pick as a savior, but one Steelers insider is adamant that he should not be viewed that way.
“People always ask me about Roman Wilson. Listen, Roman Wilson is not coming to the rescue,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said via 93.7 The Fan this morning. “The guys they have are the guys they have and they’re gonna have to make it work.”
It would be one thing had Wilson played extensively in the preseason or in a couple games during the regular season. He didn’t even have any padded practices at training camp beyond the very first one in which he hurt his ankle.
Mike Tomlin has said several times over the last few years that receivers are coming out of college more pro ready than other positions because of things like seven-on-seven football. But that is assuming they are a full participant throughout the team-building process. Wilson only had a few training camp practices and then a couple weeks of regular-season practice with just a few snaps in one game.
“I don’t care if you come from Michigan or you come from Cal Pa., sometimes you need a redshirt year, and I think Roman Wilson is one of those guys,” Fittipaldo said. “Unless there’s an injury in the receiving corps, we’re not gonna see him this season.”
Arthur Smith briefly mentioned Wilson during his coordinator press conference on Wednesday. He said the Steelers hopefully make a deep enough playoff run where he can get involved. That tells me that he is still a few weeks away from getting any real looks in practice let alone a game, and would the Steelers really want to change things up that deep in the playoffs?
If there are enough injuries in the WR room to get Wilson on the field, they have a big problem anyway.
He can use this practice time as a ramp into his offseason where he can hit the ground running to prepare for 2025. Calvin Austin III knows a thing or two about bouncing back from a lost rookie season, so Wilson even has a potential mentor in that regard.
