Roman Wilson Draws Comparison to Jayden Reed

When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Roman Wilson, he earned all sorts of comparisons. He compared himself to one of Russell Wilson’s top targets, Tyler Lockett. But the comparison that Tony Pauline heard the Steelers view Wilson through is much more ambitious. According to Pauline, Wilson is viewed through a ‘Hines Ward lens’ within the Steelers organization as a tough player who wins between the numbers.

But there could be another comparison that makes even more sense. Daniel Jeremiah believes that Wilson is more like Jayden Reed, who has shined early in his career with the Green Bay Packers.

“Then you go out and get Roman Wilson, who I thought was like a Jayden Reed type of player,” he said. “We saw how quickly Jayden Reed transitioned with the Green Bay Packers and how they got him up and running, and the success he had,” Jeremiah said of Wilson on The Rich Eisen Show.

In January, Wilson got a challenge from Tomlin before a sunny Wednesday practice at the Senior Bowl . Tomlin pulled Wilson and Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell aside, two of the most dominant players from day one of the Senior Bowl, and told them to go against each other throughout practice. They did just that, creating a highlight reel play for Wilson.

Wilson is somewhat undersized, checking in at 5-foot-10 3/4 and 185 pounds, but showed excellent athleticism in pre-draft testing. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, a 4.07-second shuttle and 6.89-second three-cone drill at the 2024 NFL Combine, resulting in an 8.59 RAS out of 10.

Roman Wilson played both inside and outside at Michigan, spending 91% of his time in the slot as a junior in 2022 and 65.5% of his time in the slot last season, per Pro Football Focus.