Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Roman Wilson (2024 Fantasy Football)

This is what we’ve been waiting for, fantasy football enthusiasts. The NFL Draft is under way, and we finally get to see where the rookie prospects are going to launch their professional careers. And NFL Draft landing spots allow us to start to zero in on fantasy football and dynasty rookie draft pick values. We look at Roman Wilson and how he’ll fit with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Throughout the draft, we’ll take a closer look at fantasy-relevant prospects, giving you an overview of their strengths and weaknesses, and assessing their fantasy value in both redraft and dynasty formats.

Let’s dig in.

Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Outlook

Fitz’s Fantasy Football Outlook

WR Roman Wilson of Michigan will be joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected Wilson with the 84th overall pick of the draft.

It’s a good landing spot for Wilson. More on that in a moment.

The 22-year-old Wilson supplied the Wolverines with 48 catches for 789 yards and 12 touchdowns last year as a key cog in Michigan’s national championship season. He’s an athletic slot receiver who ran a 4.39 at the NFL Scouting Combine and posted a Relative Athletic Score of 8.59.

Roman Wilson is lightning-quick and will occasionally blow by defenders to make big plays downfield. He’s extremely sure-handed, with two drops and zero fumbles last season. Wilson never had more than two drops in any of his four years in Ann Arbor.

The 5-10½, 185-pound Wilson has suboptimal size and playing strength, and he has short arms. And while Wilson has the speed to be dangerous after the catch, he isn’t going to break many tackles.

The Steelers needed help at wide receiver after trading Diontae Johnson to the Panthers. Young WR George Pickens has flashed star potential for the Steelers, but Pickens has been inconsistent and could use a reliable sidekick. The other receivers on the Steelers’ roster are unexciting: Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III and Quez Watkins.

Wilson could conceivably start for Pittsburgh right away. He might be second or third in the target pecking order behind Pickens and perhaps TE Pat Freiermuth — not a bad situation from a fantasy perspective. And with the Steelers adding QBs Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in the offseason, their passing game should be vastly improved. One word of caution, however: Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s usage of his skill players can be unpredictable and frustrating.

In dynasty, I have Wilson ranked WR11 among rookies and WR51 overall. He’s likely to go in the early-to-mid second round of 1QB rookie drafts or in the late second round of superflex drafts.

Wilson’s predraft FantasyPros Expert Consensus ranking was WR83 in half-point PPR formats, and he had a predraft Underdog best-ball ADP of WR66. I have Wilson ranked WR65 for redraft.

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Thor’s NFL Draft Profile & Player Comp

Roman Wilson | Michigan
5106/185 | RAS: 8.6
Comp: Golden Tate

A sleek, fluid athlete with all the speed and quicks you’d want out of the slot. An assignment-minded player whom Michigan’s NFL staff greatly trusted – Wilson was the focal point of designed timing concepts in high-leverage situations.

Wilson’s lack of size and strength will relegate him mostly to slot duties in the NFL. But this will also prevent him from being pressed. Wilson has short arms – tied for second-shortest of my top-15 WRs – and thus a smaller catch radius, but he’s reliable on anything he can reach.

No, really – Wilson had one drop and zero fumbles as WR1 during Michigan’s undefeated 2023 title run (after two drops and zero fumbles in 2022). In an odd genetic quirk, Wilson has very big hands – bigger than Rome Odunze’s, one-eighth-of-an-inch smaller than Marvin Harrison’s and the same size as Xavier Leggette’s. Since he never flubs balls, this should probably be discussed as often as his size is.

Wilson struggles in true contested situations due to his body composition. But he’s skilled at making tough catches in congested quarters, a very good ball tracker who sees the ball well through the catch phase no matter what is happening around him. Wilson consistently makes plays downfield when he can free himself – we saw this in numerous big spots over the past two years.

Out of the slot, Wilson is a squirty, bursty route-runner who is tough to stick with one-on-one. He adjusts tempos at will, putting his man on a balance beam. Wilson changes directions fluidly without losing momentum. He quickly finds bare patches against zone and squats.

The film I watched on Wilson showed a high effort gnat of a blocker. He won’t overpower anyone, but he also doesn’t shirk assignments. Wilson goes right at his man and forces him to fight through to get involved in the play.

Though Wilson’s counting stats suffered due to Michigan’s run-first ethos and the Wolverines starters getting pulled in the second half of many blowouts last year, his value can be seen in ranking No. 1 in expected points added per route run. He was also top-10 nationally in QB rating when targeted.

Wilson doesn’t break many tackles and isn’t a huge YAC threat, but he profiles as a reliable and efficient starting slot in the NFL immediately.

Check out more NFL Draft profiles and player comps from Thor in our 2024 NFL Draft Guide