Rodgers reacts to Roman mistake with praise of WR

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s what we saw from receiver Roman Wilson, especially last year with Aaron Rodgers, and it happened again during Steelers practice at the UPMC Rooney complex on the South Side Wednesday.

“Roman made a repeat mistake,” Rodgers said. “He did the same thing early in training camp and we said ‘hey, on that under route you got to keep coming’.”

But Rodgers didn’t gesture or yell, rather he took it to be a good learning experience and was glad it happened in practice. It’s a sign of the growth of the relationship between the future Hall of Fame quarterback and third-year receiver.

“Roman is a great kid,” Rodgers said. “He’s had a fantastic camp (saying one of the top five performers of anyone in training camp). I have the utmost confidence in him. He’s going to have to play a big role for us. Mistakes are going to happen and that’s a great one to happen in practice.”

“He’s gotten a lot better and I’m proud of Roman.”

A third-round pick after being a star on the Michigan national championship team, Wilson caught 12 passes for 166 yards and two first downs on 21 targets. With the injuries to DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman, Wilson has had a larger presence with the first team during the preseason, not just in games, but practice.

It’s in those times with Rodgers that he noticed the change.

“As fast as he is, he was kind of like a deer out there at times, just bouncing around, long-striding, not setting up his routes,” Rodgers said. “He was a lot smoother this year. When you have a dynamic trait like speed, which he does, he’s a crazy top-end speed. If you can figure out the intermediate stuff, you can really become a big-time player.”

“I feel like he’s made a lot of steps in that direction. More than any of that though, he is constantly asking questions, verifying things, making sure he’s on the same page when he takes an install in the receiver room and comes to me in the locker room about certain questions, and I love that.”

“He’s super-eager to do it the right way. He’s made of the right stuff. I’m really proud of him.”

How does that translate in the regular season?