Roman Wilson looked like an afterthought not long ago. Now he’s suddenly one of the most interesting names at Steelers training camp.
That’s quite a swing for a player who is entering his third NFL season with only 12 career catches. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 third-round pick barely got on the field as a rookie, logging just five offensive snaps, and his 2025 season didn’t offer much more reason for optimism.
Then the offseason got even rougher for him. Pittsburgh traded for Michael Pittman Jr. and used a second-round pick on Alabama wideout Germie Bernard, making it easy to wonder where Wilson fit at all.
Early in camp, though, he’s started answering that question.
Wilson has been one of the hottest topics around Steelers camp because he keeps showing the same thing: separation. He’s been creating space, extending outside his frame to make tough catches, and when the pads came on this week, he looked even better.
A big part of the buzz is his growing connection with Aaron Rodgers. Last season, that chemistry just wasn’t there.
Rodgers and Wilson were rarely on the same page, and the numbers reflected it: Wilson caught just 12 of 21 targets for a 57.1 percent catch rate and a 47.6 percent success rate in 2025, per Pro Football Reference. It wasn’t a drop issue - Wilson wasn’t credited with a single drop - and it wasn’t simply a matter of Rodgers spraying throws everywhere.
The two just never clicked.
This summer has looked different. Wilson has been running mostly with the first-team offense, often as the slot receiver in ’11’ personnel. Rodgers has gone to him frequently, including after the pads came on, and Wilson has also surfaced as a red-zone target.
That usage fits what Wilson does best. He can separate, and that skill was part of why the Steelers drafted him in the first place. The challenge has been turning that trait into the right timing and the right spot at the right moment.
Last year, Rodgers showed so little trust in Wilson that Pittsburgh brought in Adam Thielen and Marquez Valdes-Scantling late in the season. That didn’t really change the picture.
So in a span of less than two weeks this summer, Wilson has gone from looking like a bottom-of-the-roster possibility to looking like the player many believed he could be when he arrived as the No. 1 option on a national championship Michigan team. Based on what’s been seen at camp, he appears headed for a meaningful role as a slot receiver, and there are even a handful of plays drawn up with him as the first read.
That wasn’t the case a year ago.
Still, it’s early. The Rodgers-Wilson connection isn’t something to crown yet, and there aren’t many receivers who suddenly break through in Year 3 after doing very little in their first two seasons. But for now, the signs are there that Rodgers and Wilson are finally building the chemistry Steelers fans were waiting to see.
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That stands in sharp contrast to the Sean Payton situation, when the Saints were able to move his contractual rights and come away with draft capital. In Tomlins case, the arrangement is apparently different enough that Pittsburgh may not benefit at all if another team comes calling later, which makes his next move a little more interesting for everyone around the league. [Read more 🡒]