Mike Tomlin Explains Steelers Confusing Roman Wilson Decision

The Pittsburgh Steelers have made a confounding personnel decision this season.

During the 2024 NFL Draft, the Steelers made the decision to select Roman Wilson with one of their two picks in the third round of that draft. Wilson would shine early in training camp, then receive an injury that would cause him to not register a snap in any game during the 2024 preseason and regular season.

Then, he would play limited snaps in multiple games in the 2025 season before becoming a healthy scratch for a multi game stretch. Now, Wilson is playing, but at a very limited usage. Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Roman and his usage specifically during his weekly press conference, as they used a significant amount of draft capital in order to land him.

First, Tomlin spoke in a more general sense about how personnel is managed in situations where the team is not playing how he would like, in this case focusing on the offense.

Tomlin Addresses The Wilson Situation

"Particularly when you're not winning third downs, I don't think anyone plays as much as they would like," Tomlin said. "We've had this conversation many times about running the football. I felt really good about our run plan. I thought we had an opportunity to really control the game through those means, and we didn't have a bad running day. But we certainly didn't have as good a running day as we could have had we converted more possession downs."

Tomlin then focused more on Wilson specifically, talking about how he impacts the game.

"And I think the same could be said about levels of participation for guys like Roman and thus their ability to impact the game."

It seems that Wilson has not shown Tomlin enough to let him garner a high level of playing time at the NFL level, which is discouraging for someone taken in Day 2 of the previous seasons' draft. Wilson has now been jumped by veteran mid-season signings, with new Steeler Marquez Valdes-Scantling getting nine targets in the Steelers loss and Adam Thielen being consistenly targeted.

Nov 23, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright (26) breaks up a pass against Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Roman Wilson (10) during the second half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

A game such as the Browns one that had the Steelers top two wideouts out would have been a perfect time to get Wilson involved, but it seems that he has been jumped by other receiving talents. It seems unlikely that they will keep him rostered for the 2026 season, especially if they select a wide receiver during the draft.

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