Calvin Austin III may have been named the No. 2 WR during offseason practices, but some still believed that second-year WR Roman Wilson was capable of pushing for that role and a breakout season. The chances of that aren’t promising after nearly two full weeks of training camp practice in the books.
Wilson’s name has been notably missing from the daily camp standouts, which isn’t a great sign when Calvin Austin III has missed some time with a minor injury.
“You look at Roman Wilson, and the two most noticeable reps that he’s had have been missed connections with Aaron Rodgers,” The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo said via 93.7 The Fan’s Pomp and Joe Show. “You were really looking for Roman to step up this year and to take that big step forward in Year 2 develop early chemistry with Aaron Rodgers. So far I’ve seen none of that.”
The two reps DeFabo referenced were bad misses that were nowhere near catchable, suggesting a miscommunication or even an incorrect route run by Wilson.
Wilson was the team’s first third-round pick in last year’s draft. Multiple injuries held him out of basically his entire rookie camp, preseason and regular season. But there were glowing reports about Wilson throughout spring practices. His body looked more NFL-ready, and he was drawing praise for his work ethic and focus at practice. That hasn’t translated to training camp yet.
“When he was coming out, he had legitimate track-caliber speed. But one of the things is, every route is not a race,” DeFabo said. “Learning how to be an NFL route runner I think is part of this. I think that’s why you’re seeing the missed connections with Aaron Rodgers is because there’s a specific way that Rodgers wants you to run the route.”
Rodgers wasn’t shy to let everybody know about Mike Williams failing to run the red line last year with the New York Jets. He expects perfection from his receivers, and DeFabo is suggesting that type of polish isn’t present in Wilson’s game right now.
To be fair to Wilson, he has basically zero meaningful NFL experience, including practice, and Rodgers didn’t join the team until mandatory minicamp in the middle of June. He would have had a handful of opportunities to catch passes from Rodgers there and then a day or two of work in Malibu at the beginning of July.
Through the first four practices, our Alex Kozora had Wilson down for just one catch on three targets for five yards. That is a noticeably slower start than his first four unpadded practices a year ago.
The story on Wilson’s 2025 season has just begun, but it isn’t off to the hot start some expected.
