Roman Wilson showed up in back-to-back preseason games and has continually gotten better after a slow start to training camp. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, that may be part of the reason the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t prioritized adding to their wide receiver room.
“The Steelers haven’t signed more veteran receivers up to this point in part because they are high on Roman Wilson, who impressed both in the joint practice with the Bucs and the game. Last night was a good sign for Pittsburgh,” Fowler wrote.
Mike Tomlin told Steelers sideline reporter Missi Matthews during halftime that developing Wilson has been one of their top agenda items this preseason. He also noted Wilson’s “big-time growth” from the first to second preseason game.
Wilson’s 72 receiving yards on two catches led the team last night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His 96 total yards over the first two preseason games now lead the team as well. That production has come with just 31 snaps and six targets over the first two games.
Calvin Austin III was named the team’s No. 2 WR during the spring, but he hasn’t practiced since Aug. 1 due to an undisclosed injury. Normally that might prompt the team to sign or trade for a veteran receiver to ensure they have adequate weapons for QB Aaron Rodgers, but Wilson’s emergence has made that much less urgent.
Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly noted rumblings of the Steelers having interest in an outside receiver. We will see if that’s still the case after another stellar performance from Wilson.
It’s just two preseason games, but Wilson’s confidence in himself and the team’s confidence in him are growing by the week. The joint Buccaneers-Steelers practice last Thursday was closed, so there wasn’t a ton of information reported about specific players. Fowler revealed that Wilson had a nice joint practice, which would have been against the Buccaneers’ starters and possibly even with Rodgers throwing him the ball.
Rodgers recently noted Wilson’s obvious talent, but said he needed to get out his head. Whatever pep talk may have occurred between the two seems to have worked as the former third-round pick has been nothing but excellent in practices and preseason games since.
Austin will hopefully be back in the fold soon, but the silver lining to his absence is the accelerated learning curve for Wilson, who increasingly looks like possible No. 2 WR option in Pittsburgh.
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