Vince Williams ‘Pretty Confident’ Roman Wilson Will Have ‘Breakout Year’

The Pittsburgh Steelers used to excel at drafting and developing wide receivers. Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace, Diontae Johnson, and George Pickens are just a few receivers the Steelers drafted after Day 1 who turned into productive NFL players. However, Pittsburgh has had less success in recent years. There was hope the team would get back on track with Roman Wilson, but he’s had a rough first two years in the league. Former Steelers linebacker Vince Williams isn’t giving up on Wilson, though.

“I expect big things out of this wide receiver room,” Williams said recently on the Steelers Blitz podcast. “I’m excited for them. Confidence like an 8 [out of 10]. I know that those top two guys are going to dominate. And I’m pretty confident in Roman, too. I think he’s gonna figure it out. I think it’s gonna be a breakout year for him.”

Forget a breakout year. Wilson just needs to show some signs of progress, or he could be on the outside looking in next year. While he was a third-round pick, he hasn’t come close to giving the Steelers what they had hoped when they drafted him.

Injuries robbed Wilson of basically his entire rookie season. He was healthy last year, but he still had issues. Wilson only caught 12 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Also, he got benched near the end of the year. It never looked like he was able to get on the same page as Aaron Rodgers.

That caused some people to worry about Wilson’s future in Pittsburgh when Rodgers returned to the team. However, Rodgers has been very complimentary of Wilson this offseason. While he still sees some areas where the fleet-footed receiver needs to improve, he’s said multiple times that he thinks Wilson looks better this year.

Still, it’s going to be tougher for Wilson to earn opportunities this season. DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. will be the Steelers’ top two receivers.

That means Wilson will have to fight to be the No. 3 wideout, and he has stiff competition. The Steelers traded up in the second round this year to draft Germie Bernard. Rodgers has liked some of what he’s seen out of the rookie, too. If Wilson isn’t careful, then he may find himself as the fourth receiver on Pittsburgh’s depth chart. That wouldn’t be ideal for him as he nears the end of his rookie contract.