Not dressing in the preseason finale is usually reserved for established veterans. Not for wide receivers who have 12 career catches. But in the final preseason contest of this August, Roman Wilson didn’t play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wilson travelled with the team to Buffalo, but he was not in uniform Thursday night.
After the game, head coach Mike McCarthy addressed Wilson not playing in his postgame press conference.
“The veterans that came along that didn’t play, we felt like, we did the numbers, we worked the practices. Monday, Tuesday, those were probably two of our best practices of training camp,” McCarthy told reporters. “So, I felt really good about the amount of work and the competitiveness of the work that we were able to accomplish.
“That played into who played and who didn’t play tonight.”
Wilson concluded the 2026 preseason with three catches for 23 yards. He received six targets in two games.
Mike McCarthy Shares Why Steelers Didn’t Play Roman Wilson
Wilson not playing in the preseason finale surprised most Steelers pundits and insiders. Some of them shared their reactions to the decision prior to kickoff Thursday night.
“Steelers WRs Roman Wilson not in uniform during warmups,” wrote ESPN’s Brooke Pryor as a caption to a picture of Wilson.
PennLive.com’s Nick Farabaugh reported despite not being in uniform, Wilson went through warm ups as if he was playing.
“Wilson is not suited up to play tonight,” wrote Farabaugh. “But he was going through warm-ups at full speed earlier tonight.”
Wilson received a lot of praise early in training camp for the improvement he’s made entering his third NFL season. In the first 14 games of his career over two seasons, he has just 12 catches for 166 yards.
But that praise came to a halt when Will Howard threw two interceptions on passes intended for Wilson during Week 2 of the preseason. Some analysts blamed Wilson for the turnovers.
After he didn’t play Thursday, some pundits wondered if his future with the team might be in doubt.
“I will be surprised if Roman Wilson is the Steelers WR3 Week 1,” wrote ESPN radio’s Trey Carney.
“The coaching staff might like what they have seen from Roman this camp, but he still isn’t carrying it over to game settings.”
Germie Bernard Scores TD in Preseason Finale
Making matters worse for Wilson, his biggest competition for WR3 entering the season did play Thursday — Germie Bernard. And the rookie wideout performed well with limited opportunities.
Bernard scored a touchdown on a swing pass in the first quarter. On the play, Bernard made a Bills defender whiff on a tackle, which allowed the rookie to run straight to the pylon for the game’s first touchdown.
It was Bernard’s only catch of the night. But it was a display of the playmaking ability the rookie wideout could bring to the table.
Outside of practice, Wilson hasn’t shown that type of playmaking ability.
It’s too much of a stretch to say Wilson is on the roster bubble entering this weekend. If anything, he’s on solid footing enough to have not needed to play Thursday.
But it was a bit of a curious decision to not give Wilson more game repetitions when that’s where he has struggled the most.
Steelers’ Mike McCarthy Speaks out on Roman Wilson Absence in Preseason Finale