If there’s one former coach who still keeps an intimate pulse on league happenings, it’s Jon Gruden. If you need proof, look no further than his division breakdowns on YouTube, where he discusses all 53 players on the roster at great length. During his AFC North preview, he singled out second-year WR Roman Wilson for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“The guy I’m most excited about, and I am nuts, is I freaking love Roman Wilson,” Gruden said. “I loved him at Michigan…The guy’s a hell of a player. So if they go 11 personnel, you’re gonna see Calvin Austin, DK Metcalf and I think you’re gonna see a lot of Roman Wilson.
“And their receiver coach, Zach Azzanni, he’s a good friend of mine. He loves this because everybody right now is saying, ‘Hey, the Steelers don’t have any wideouts.’ Bullshit. Wait until you see Roman Wilson. And I know DK Metcalf and I do know that Calvin Austin used strategically can really be a force.”
Gruden isn’t alone in his optimism. The Steelers themselves have reasons to believe their WR room is stronger than outsiders think.
One major reason the Steelers have struggled at wide receiver in recent years is the lack of consistent quarterback play, just as much as a lack of top-end talent on the outside. A quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, even at his advanced age, can elevate the talent around him. We saw Ben Roethlisberger do it for years. Just ask Markus Wheaton and Sammie Coates what life was like after Roethlisberger, for example.
The Steelers also went out and upgraded their receiving corps with the addition of Metcalf. For as talented as George Pickens is, Metcalf is a better No. 1 option with a better track record in the NFL. Then there’s the pair of speedy receivers in Austin and Wilson. Austin was one of the breakout players of 2024 for the Steelers and Wilson figures to have a chance at following in his footsteps this season.
Steelers beat reporter Mark Kaboly passed along some sentiment from inside the building that they really love Wilson internally. Given his friendship with Azzanni, it’s fair to wonder if Gruden’s enthusiasm reflects what he’s hearing directly from inside the building.
The Steelers aggressively addressed nearly every other roster need — trading for Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf while signing one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. If they truly shared the outside concern about their wide receiver room, why wouldn’t they have taken that final step to maximize the roster?
Some will point to the fact that they reportedly pursued Marquez Valdes-Scantling as an admission that they need WR help. But I would argue the opposite. The fact that Valdes-Scantling chose to go elsewhere despite a chance to play with Rodgers again is telling. He wasn’t going to have a real role on offense, and he knew it.
