For Steelers’ Roman Wilson, No News Is No News For Participation This Week

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin did not mention rookie WR Roman Wilson while listing injuries yesterday. While he missed his second straight game, he did practice every day last week in some capacity and the Steelers listed him as questionable to play in Denver.

So for the rookie Wilson, is no news good news, at least on the injury front? Well, that’s hard to say because Tomlin is not very forthcoming. To recap what we know, Wilson only participated fully on Thursday late week, limited on Wednesday and Friday. That timeline suggests a setback, but Tomlin offered no insight into that.

Despite his limited status at the end of last week, the Steelers listed him as questionable, but he did not dress against the Broncos. Once again, they elevated WR Ben Skowronek from the practice squad, and he even played offensive snaps this week. Now the Steelers signed Skowronek to the 53-man roster, which won’t help Wilson dress, either.

So perhaps no news is just that—no news. We can reasonably assume that Roman Wilson is healthier today than he was on Sunday, or last Friday. We can reasonably assume he will be healthier on Friday than today, and even healthier on Sunday. What we cannot assume is if he will practice enough to put himself in consideration to play. And we don’t know if he will play even assuming he is healthy enough to do so.

Tomlin did tell reporters yesterday that he expects Wilson to work this week, which is no surprise. “We’ll see where that leads, whether it leads to participation, how much participation”, he added. “Yes, I was pleased with his progress last week. I’m excited to see where it leads us this week”. When asked about how close Wilson was to playing last week, he tersely responded, “It’s irrelevant”.

The Steelers selected Roman Wilson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He suffered an ankle injury on the first day of padded practice in training camp and has only had one full day of practice since then. After missing the entire preseason and the first two regular-season games, he is trying to hop on a moving train.

But the Steelers are not getting any production out of their wide receiver group outside of George Pickens. And we know that they are looking for contributions considering they seriously tried to trade for Brandon Aiyuk. Many view Wilson as the Steelers’ only hope of a legitimate No. 2 WR this year.

Outside of Pickens, the wide receivers have five catches through two games for 28 yards. Pickens himself has 114 yards on eight receptions, and he should have a lot more than that. But even if Wilson were to play on Sunday, it won’t magically fix the issue.

And will he even play? With Skowronek on the 53-man roster and as someone becoming a core special teams player, it’s hard to find a helmet. Would the Steelers bench Scotty Miller, who doesn’t have a passing target yet. He is only a backup special teams player, so that is one clear option. But the Steelers probably want to see at the least one full week of good practice from Roman Wilson first.