NFL Analysis
3/7/24
4 min read
Roman Wilson NFL Draft 2024: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Pittsburgh Steelers WR
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Roman Wilson.
Roman Wilson'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 5'10"
- Weight: 186 lbs
- 40-Time: 4.39
- 10-Yard Split: 1.52
- Vertical: DNP
- Broad Jump: DNP
- 3-Cone: DNP
- Shuttle: DNP
Roman Wilson 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS:
- Extensive experience as a slot receiver with multiple splits and releases. He's quick into vertical stems with free access.
- Smooth and fluid strider with an easy gliding, flowing feel to his movement. He has natural quickness as a route runner.
- Showed outstanding burst and explosiveness in his vertical stem routes when he had free access off the ball.
- At his best on movement routes where he can build up his acceleration speed and run away from coverage.
- Flashed an understanding of how to use his vertical stem to attack corners, creating separation of top of the route stem.
- He was effective on slot fades and slot go routes where he ran by corners with accelerating and, at times, explosive speed.
- Caught the ball easily with his hands on the move. He has a smooth seamless transition from receiver to run after the catch.
WEAKNESSES:
- What the 2023 tape did not show was the sudden, quick-twitch change of direction routes that the slot demands.
- More straight-line fast than sudden and twitchy run after catch. His 2023 tape did not show high-level elusiveness.
- Did not see tough contested physical catches on tape. More of a runway receiver catching the ball on the move.
- Wilson did not work much at all vs. press coverage, so that is a question that needs to be answered.
NFL TRANSITION:
The more I watched Wilson, the more I thought of Tyler Lockett in terms of the size/traits profile and how he has been deployed in the Seattle Seahawks offense as an outside and slot receiver.
Wilson is location versatile within the passing game. He can be especially effective as the motion receiver where he can get free access into his routes and generate the build-up speed that is foundational to his game. Wilson’s 2023 tape showed he was at his best running movement routes like crossers, overs and fades where he could build up speed and run away from coverage rather than the sudden quick twitch change-of-direction routes often demanded of slot receivers.
He consistently caught the ball away from his frame on the move and seamlessly transitioned from receiver to run after catch. What the 2023 tape did not show was the kind of elusiveness and shiftiness we often associate with slot and inside receivers.
Wilson was more straight-line and linear in his overall movement, so he needs more of a runway to be effective run after catch. He would best transition to the next level as a combination slot-movement Z receiver, but he is a specific kind of receiver that needs the pass game scheme to work to his strengths with the use of reduced splits and motion and movement routes.
OTHER NOTES:
Wilson played four years at Michigan, becoming a full-time starter in his final season of 2022. He came out of Hawaii as a four-star recruit, winning four consecutive high school state titles.
Wilson was predominantly a slot receiver in 2023, with 49 of his 66 targets coming out of the slot. On those reps, he recorded 38 catches for 615 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 16.2 yards per catch. He was also featured as the motion receiver to get him on the move with free access into his routes.
