WR Roman Wilson is seeing extensive time with the Steelers’ first-team offense to open training camp, and some are noticing. That includes former Steelers secondary coach Tom Bradley, who joined Gerry Dulac to talk Steelers on 970 AM Fox Sports Pittsburgh. In an hour-long segment, he shared his thoughts on various elements but liked what he saw from Wilson Friday.
“When you watch him today, he certainly plays the part well”, he said of Roman Wilson. “He’s a guy that I think the Pittsburgh Steelers fans are gonna take a liking to in a hurry just by the way he goes about his work. You can see why they drafted him just by the way he does things out there”.
Dulac then compared Wilson to Hines Ward, with which Bradley agreed. Wilson is not as big, but they both embrace the physical aspect of the position to some degree. “He likes the competition”, Bradley said. “Just watching him, I think he enjoys that. You saw a little bit of that in him. I think over the course of time, I think he’s gonna be one of those guys that likes to just compete”.
The Steelers selected Roman Wilson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He essentially redshirted as a rookie last season, a string of injuries limiting his opportunities to contribute. By season’s end, he had played in just one game, logging five snaps, running one route, drawing zero targets.
Going into the 2025 season, Wilson is essentially an unknown, but the Steelers have seen much more than we have. So far, we have a total of six training camp practices and five snaps in a regular-season game upon which to base an opinion on the former Michigan Wolverine. A year ago, he injured his ankle on the first day of padded practices.
Although the Steelers acquired WR DK Metcalf this offseason, they also traded George Pickens. Passing on wide receivers in the draft, they are looking to build the room internally, at least so far. Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson are their two and three, with Metcalf indisputably the top dog.
In an offense that includes Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, and Darnell Washington at tight end and Jaylen Warren, Kaleb Johnson, and Kenneth Gainwell at running back, I don’t know how much work the third receiver will claim, anyway. But that’s something Roman Wilson can help decide; if he dictates that he deserves targets, they can find opportunities.
While he hasn’t had the opportunities so far, the Steelers, Dulac claims, have “extreme high hopes” for Roman Wilson. He also said he anticipates Wilson will play a lot, mixing in “very high” in the wide receiver pecking order. Right now, he is presumably behind only Metcalf and Austin in a group that also includes Robert Woods, Ben Skowronek, and Scotty Miller.