Roman Wilson scouting report: Exploring the Michigan WR's strengths and weaknesses

A four-star recruit in 2020, Roman Wilson only touched the ball ten times as a true freshman, but then had 28 and 27 touches respectively the following two seasons, combining for basically 900 yards and nine touchdowns. This past season, he put up career-highs across the board in receptions (48), yards (789) and touchdowns (12). That made him a second-team All-Big Ten selection.

Details: 5-foot-11, 185 pounds; SR.

Breaking down Roman Wilson's scouting report

Roman Wilson at NFL Combine

Releases & route-running:

• Has that shimmy off the line and makes it tough for DBs to get hands on him with the way he turns his body away from contact
• Already shows tremendous detail in his routes, such as threating with an outside burst to sell the slot fade before breaking out to the sideline (on deep outs)
• The looseness at which he can straightening the stem off motion and flatten the break out of stair-steps is rare
• Utilizes some rip-throughs to not get hung up with defenders trying to wall him off or widen his stem
• Has the raw speed to run away from slot defenders on routes across the field and probably more downfield as well in an offense that utilizes him that way / a quarterback willing to launch the ball
• Dynamic in his transitions and will freeze the feet or get off-defenders leaning the wrong way with those staccato-like feet
• Fully capable of putting safeties in a blender who he gets isolated against with deep responsibility, such as on corner-post routes
• Utilizes different pacing and rounds off deep over routes to clear coverage and find green grass well

Ball-tracking, positioning & catching:

• His spatial awareness vs. zone coverage is a definite plus, sitting down where he can perfectly split the distance to nearby bodies
• Immediately gets his head around once he clears coverage
• Understands when he should slow himself down in windows and be ready for the ball, as well as to become friendly to the quarterback and negate angles for defenders trying to undercut him
• Does a great job of clearing out space for his teammates and purposefully leaning into guys late, to force safeties trying to close to work around them
• Presents soft hands and consistently applies overhand technique when possible – only dropped one of 49 catchable targets in 2023
• Does not have to gear down at all when passes arrive at his back-hip whilst on the run and is able to run away from guys driving on him
• Recognizes when he needs to secure the catch quickly and wrap it up tightly as defenders are converging on him from multiple angles, such as the spot element on mesh concepts

Run after catch & blocking:

• There’s zero delay turning upfield once the catch is secured, off crossing routes in particular
• Can stop on a dime to watch pursuit defenders fly by him and has the quickness to make people miss in tight areas
• Gets to balance in just one shuffle-step and showcases tremendous effort as a blocker
• Does a great job of choosing and adjusting his angles in the run game, to get his body in the way of defenders
• His initial quickness to establish positioning and cut off the angle for slot defenders trying to shoot the crease sticks out in a positive manner regularly
• Excellent on stalk-blocks, being patient with sliding in front of guys but also sturdy enough to take a punch into the chest

Weaknesses:

• Plenty of his production came in part thanks to advantages through releases and hiding him behind stacks
• Rutgers DB Max Melton kind of bullied him and didn’t allow any separation against Wilson in their 2023 matchup
• Presents a limited catch radius and doesn’t give you a whole lot in jump-ball situations down the field – only hauled in nine career contested catches (37.5% last season)
• When he can catch a crosser and turn up the field, he can rack up good yards after the catch, but he actually only forced two missed tackles last season (on 48 receptions)
• The lack of play strength and pure mass does show up with Wilson, when overhang defenders and big safeties are able to initiate contact as well as go through him as a blocker

Roman Wilson's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Roman Wilson at NFL Combine

Similarly to Michigan receivers in the past, such as Nico Collins and to some degree also Donovan Peoples-Jones, Roman Wilson did not get a chance to fully showcase his skill-set naturally as part of the offense. That’s why seeing him route everybody up during Senior Bowl week boosted his draft stock massively, to where he actually sat out after two practices due to having shown everything he could.

Roman Wilson’s a sub-six-foot slot receiver with a limited catch radius and hasn’t been a great YAC weapon necessarily. However, he can absolutely stress the deep areas of the field from that alignment, he’s dynamic out of his breaks, catches everything thrown his way and he’s going to block his ass off for his teammates, guided by the mantra of “no block, no rock”.

If you use Roman Wilson in that capacity and how you value a player like that as part of your offense will determine how high Roman Wilson will go, but him and the next guy up here have elevated themselves into top-50 status I believe.

Grade: Late second round