The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Roman Wilson.
The more I watched Wilson, the more I thought of Tyler Lockett in terms of the size/traits profile and how he has been deployed in the Seattle Seahawks offense as an outside and slot receiver.
Wilson is location versatile within the passing game. He can be especially effective as the motion receiver where he can get free access into his routes and generate the build-up speed that is foundational to his game. Wilson’s 2023 tape showed he was at his best running movement routes like crossers, overs and fades where he could build up speed and run away from coverage rather than the sudden quick twitch change-of-direction routes often demanded of slot receivers.
He consistently caught the ball away from his frame on the move and seamlessly transitioned from receiver to run after catch. What the 2023 tape did not show was the kind of elusiveness and shiftiness we often associate with slot and inside receivers.
Wilson was more straight-line and linear in his overall movement, so he needs more of a runway to be effective run after catch. He would best transition to the next level as a combination slot-movement Z receiver, but he is a specific kind of receiver that needs the pass game scheme to work to his strengths with the use of reduced splits and motion and movement routes.
Wilson played four years at Michigan, becoming a full-time starter in his final season of 2022. He came out of Hawaii as a four-star recruit, winning four consecutive high school state titles.
Wilson was predominantly a slot receiver in 2023, with 49 of his 66 targets coming out of the slot. On those reps, he recorded 38 catches for 615 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 16.2 yards per catch. He was also featured as the motion receiver to get him on the move with free access into his routes.
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