Will Roman Wilson Ever Find A Role With Steelers This Season?

Will Roman Wilson ever find a role in the Steelers’ offense this season?

For a third-round pick on a team with a wide receiver deficit, Roman Wilson sure isn’t doing much for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has dressed for one game so far and has since gone in the wrong direction. An August ankle injury is turning his rookie season into a redshirt year; does he have time to change it?

The Steelers turned over their wide receiver room this offseason minus George Pickens and Calvin Austin III. Both of them are contributing this season, but as for the rest of the group—not so much. And the “rest of the group” is basically Van Jefferson and Scotty Miller. In theory, there should be room for Roman Wilson, but there isn’t.

Wilson dressed in Week 6, playing five snaps and running one entire route without a target. But he suffered a hamstring injury last week. Tomlin cited not the injury but practice time lost due to injury as the reason he did not dress in Week 7.

And he has already missed practice time this week, so that does not bode well for the Giants game. There is a good chance Wilson goes into the bye week with one game and five snaps to his name. The real question is what the rest of his season looks like after the bye.

Is Wilson destined for a redshirt year, or does he have time to play catch-up during the downtime? Frankly, I really thought he would have a role by now, so I have no confidence in predicting one on the horizon. Obviously, a bye week is the ideal time to gain ground, but how far behind is he?

Remember, this is a guy who missed virtually all of training camp, all of the preseason, and wasn’t even healthy the first couple weeks of the regular season. In the most critical portions of the season, he literally has about four or so weeks of health. Even Russell Wilson just back got on the field, so I’m not holding my breath for Roman Wilson.

The Steelers’ 2024 season is underway, following another disappointing year ending in a first-round playoff loss. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January. There are positive signs, but things could jump off the rails any moment.

The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Will Russell Wilson regain his job when he is healthy, or is Justin Fields stealing it? How will the team continue to address the depth chart, which is surprisingly still in flux?

The regular season is here, following weeks of camp and preseason games. The Steelers made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not so much. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.