The Pittsburgh Steelers had a theme throughout the 2024 NFL Draft, and it is a continuation of a theme that had been a part of the organization’s philosophy for a long time. They place a premium on the hearts and smarts, and ultimately drafted players that fit the Steeler Way — embodying the grit and determination for which the city is known.
A one-on-one interview with WR Roman Wilson was just posted on the Steelers’ team website and Missi Matthews asked him where his competitive nature and drive to be great comes from.
“I just feel like, even if it’s something I’m not good at – it could be table tennis – I’m working at it. I hate to lose, I love to win,” Wilson said. “I just wanna be the best at whatever I’m doing. Whoever’s in front of me, I’m gonna go chase. I’m gonna keep chasing ’em until I get ’em.”
Fortunately for Wilson, he was a part of the national championship Michigan team from the 2023 season. He knows what it takes to contribute to a winning culture. Head coach Mike Tomlin spoke about this very thing in one of the post-draft press conferences and mentioned Wilson coming from Michigan as an attractive feature about him.
That champion mentality precedes Michigan, as he was a part of a highly successful high school program in Hawaii. Saint Louis High School won 38-straight games while he was there and captured four consecutive state championships. Funny enough, he was competing there alongside his former, and now current, teammate OLB Nick Herbig.
“Especially with Nick, just competing. Him on defense, him being a leader on defense, me being a leader on offense, just competing every day,” Wilson said. “Talking trash, going at each other. But you know it’s all love at the end of the day.”
Both of the Herbig brothers on the Steelers’ roster went through that high school program in Hawaii.
“Just their story alone, like how they got together on the same team, and it’s like, now I get to join in too. That’s pretty cool,” Wilson said.
He now joins a WR room in Pittsburgh that many people are counting among the weakest in the league. George Pickens is the talented WR1, but with Diontae Johnson getting traded earlier in the offseason, there will be fierce competition for the No. 2 role. Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, and Quez Watkins will be vying for some of that playing time, but Wilson was drafted to be that next emerging guy on the unit.
The Steelers enter each season with the goal of winning the Super Bowl. That goal has carried some additional urgency this year following another playoff loss in a long string of them, and team president Art Rooney II expressed that the organization is collectively growing impatient. Bringing in a player who has always been a part of championship cultures makes perfect sense.
