Roman Wilson’s rookie season wasn’t what anyone envisioned when the Pittsburgh Steelers made him their third-round pick and potential starter replacing the departed Diontae Johnson. Instead, injuries limited Wilson to just one game and zero catches, ending the season on injured reserve. Despite the ominous start, GM Omar Khan remains confident in Wilson’s ability to help the team in 2025.
“I have a lot of confidence in Roman,” Khan said at the Combine during a presser attended by our Ross McCorkle and Jonathan Heitritter. “Unfortunately, our season didn’t continue, but Roman was in a position to play if we needed him to in the postseason, I think could’ve helped us. But the arrow up on him.”
Wilson’s initial injury came during the team’s first padded practice. He turned his ankle on a jet sweep during ‘Seven Shots,’ the first team period of the day. He missed the rest of the summer rehabbing and healing, failing to practice or play in any of the team’s three preseason games.
Still working his way back at the start of the regular season, Wilson was a weekly inactive until dressing in Week 6 against the Las Vegas Raiders. He logged five snaps and wasn’t targeted. Shortly after, he suffered a hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve to finish the season.
To Khan’s point, Roman Wilson was healthy enough to practice the final few weeks of the year. As they did for LB Cole Holcomb and DL Logan Lee, Wilson had his window-to-return opened and practiced with the team down the stretch. Khan implies that Wilson could’ve been activated and played had Pittsburgh made a postseason run, but their Wild Card loss made that conversation moot.
Though history doesn’t bode well for wide receivers who don’t catch passes during their rookie season, Wilson can look towards Calvin Austin III for hope. Austin missed his entire rookie season with a foot injury. After a quiet sophomore season, he broke out in 2024 to finish third on the team in receiving yards and second in touchdowns.
With Khan calling wide receiver a priority, the team figures to add this offseason. That could make it harder for Wilson to see snaps. But if the talent he displayed at Michigan carries over to the NFL and he shakes the injury bug, Pittsburgh will find ways to get him on the field. Starting with his first NFL catch in 2025. And hopefully, a whole lot more.
