Steelers Not Likely To Make Significant Addition To Receiver Room Following Injury To Roman Wilson

The Pittsburgh Steelers have begun the second week of training camp 2024, and for the second straight season, watched a potential key contributor go down with injury. In 2023, it was Cory Trice Jr. who went down with what turned out to be a torn ACL ending his rookie season. In 2024, rookie Roman Wilson, who was projected to be possibly be the team's number two receiver, went down with an ankle injury on the first day in pads.

Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette confirmed Tuesday night that the injury to Wilson shouldn't be anything serious and shouldn't hold him out for the entire preseason, but the hole that it creates on the roster until he is ready is significant. Being a rookie, camp is important to build chemistry with the rest of the team and determine your place on the depth chart. Wilson's injury provides an opportunity for other players on the roster to stand out, and for other additions to be made to the team. 

In his weekly Steelers chat, Dulac discussed what response Omar Khan and the front office will do in terms of bringing in a replacement for Wilson.

"They could [go out and get a receiver] because [Wilson's] probably out for at least two weeks. But it won't be anybody who will make the team."

The Steelers have already begun the process of bringing in potential cut-worthy players, signing wide receiver Tarik Black on Wednesday. Ultimately, a player's fate will be determined in camp as anyone could earn a roster spot, however based on the response from both Dulac and the Steelers, it appears the Steelers are confident in the players in the room and won't make any significant additions prior to Week 1.

Steelers Should Be Back In Play For Brandon Aiyuk

The Steelers were already thin at wide receiver headed into 2024. The team has players that can be significant, but none that have proven that yet in the NFL. Wilson had hype around him of being the next great Steelers receiver draft hit, but for a minimum of two weeks and potentially longer, that hype will only be able to remain as just that.

This doesn't mean necessarily that other players on the team can't step up and fill the void left by Wilson, but it does reintroduce the possibility that the Steelers could look to bring in an outside addition to fill both the short-term void, and long-term future. In his chat, Dulac gave his opinion on who the team could be interested in trading for a true wide receiver two.

"Brandon Aiyuk would be a good place to start." 

Adding fringe roster players like Black is good for providing another set of hands to work out, but making a move for a guy like Aiyuk is an investment into the future. This certainly isn't the first time the Steelers have been linked to the San Francisco 49ers' star, and likely won't be the last. 

Comments have been made that, unless an injury occurs, the black and gold would be out of the running for Aiyuk. Wilson's injury isn't a season-ending problem, but with no training camp, he likely won't see a significant place in the offense until at least Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers. 

For Khan and the rest of his team, the focus must now shift towards gauging confidence in players to open the season and play both the best and worst case scenarios in his head. If he believes that Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III can handle the workload and that Wilson will recover quickly to make a difference on the field, then you rule out any sort of outside addition. 

However, if there is any part of those thoughts come with any uncertainty, the organization could move on and make a splash move to elevate the Steelers from a fringe playoff team to AFC champion potential.

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