A big year from wide receiver Roman Wilson is just what the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense needs. Heck, it’s what Wilson himself needs after a lost rookie year due to repeated injuries. Though still sight unseen in the NFL, analyst Sam Monson offered three reasons why Wilson will emerge this season.
“Number one, they need him to now because they traded away George Pickens and DK Metcalf is now the number one guy [and] they would really love for Roman Wilson to become that sort of secondary target for them,” Monson told co-host Steve Palazzolo in a Twitter/X-live discussion Thursday morning.
Dealing Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys opened up an obvious hole in the Steelers’ lineup. Pittsburgh is hoping to avoid the issue of a season ago of trading Diontae Johnson without finding a suitable replacement for him. Pickens and Calvin Austin III were the only wide receivers to catch at least 25 passes, a low mark even for an Arthur Smith-constructed offense. After his strong ’24 season, Austin could have the initial upper hand but an impressive summer from Wilson will get him into the lineup.
“Number two, another guy who missed basically his rookie season,” Monson said. “Got injured. By the time he got late in the year back to the point where he could contribute as [Mike] Tomlin said, it’s hard to jump on that moving train.”
Wilson rolled his ankle during the Steelers’ first padded practice of training camp. Missing the rest of the summer, he made his NFL debut in Week 6 but logged just five offensive snaps. Shortly after, he injured his hamstring in practice and was placed on injured reserve, remaining there the rest of his rookie year. Healthy now at OTAs, he’s starting fresh.
Most of all, Monson believes Roman Wilson will emerge simply because he’s a talented player.
“He was a good receiver. A lot of people liked him coming out. He tore up the Senior Bowl, was really impressive in an all-star setting,” Monson said. “He should have been a guy to make an impact Year 1. And it sort of feels like that was just taken away from us for circumstances outside of his control. A lot of things are lining up for him to make a year two jump and break out.”
Wilson is athletic and shifty and made an impact at Michigan despite its similar run-heavy nature. In the brief moments Wilson was healthy a year ago, the team’s pad-less camp practices, he impressed. But football is played in pads, and Wilson will have to wait until August to show he was the right pick. That 2024 was a blip and 2025 is the boom.
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