The Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 NFL season has come to a close. Because the Steelers are among the 31 teams who did not finish fulfilling their ultimate goal, they are in the process of wrapping up their season and moving forward into 2025.

Since the Steelers conduct exit interviews with all their players, and the fact I have done these articles in the past, we thought we would do them yet again here at Steel Curtain Network. By outlining two players each day, we will be able to look at their season in retrospect as well as looking toward the future. Since Coach Tomlin has previously stated he starts his interviews with rookies and those heading into free agency, we will attempt to do the same to some degree. To start, we will pair the most recent draftees with another player at the same position (if possible) as we work through this process to eventually cover the entire Steelers roster.

Next up are wide receivers Roman Wilson and Van Jefferson.

Roman Wilson

Position: Wide Receiver
Years with the Steelers: 1
Years in the NFL: 1
Contract Status: Signed through 2027
Contract Details: $1,305,720 salary cap hit for 2025. Would cost the Steelers $748,728 in dead money if released and save $556,992.
Games played in 2023: 1 regular season
Games started in 2023: 0 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 5 (offense)
PFF score: 56.7 (DNQ for ranking)
Notable stats: Wilson had no Receptions on no targets in 2024 as he only played one snap on a passing play.

Notes: The 2024 season was a tough one for Roman Wilson. Yes, he had two different injures that cost him significant time throughout the season. What might be more concerning is the number of times Wilson was inactive even when he was no longer on the injury report. Yes, the injuries hurt his preparation. But if Wilson was a top-notch wide receiver option where he was standing out in such a big way, the Steelers would have made sure they had him as a part of the game plan. The bottom line is he wasn’t and they had no problem putting him on IR when his second injury arose. Whether the fault lies with the Steelers or with Wilson in regards to his usage is debatable, but the important thing is he has got to be on that moving train from the first day of training camp or Roman Wilson is set to have a short NFL career.

Van Jefferson

Position: Wide receiver
Years with the Steelers: 5
Years in the NFL: 1
Contract Status: Free Agent
Contract Details: Contract expiring with no dead money.
Games played in 2023: 17 regular season
Games started in 2023: 12 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 721 (offense), 2 (special teams)
PFF score: 57.2 (116th of 133)
Notable stats: Jefferson had 276 yards on 24 receptions from 40 targets and scored two touchdowns.

Notes: Van Jefferson simply never evolved into a weapon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The fact he was often the number two option at wide receiver is very concerning that he did not even average two receptions a game for the season. The Steelers tried to get by with role players in the wide receiver room, but Jefferson never really was utilized in a way to stand out. If the Steelers consider bringing Jefferson back for next season, it should be at a spot much further down the depth chart than where he was in 2024.

Make sure you check back each day for another set of exit interviews. If you have missed any of the previous articles, they are listed here:

Troy Fautanu & Broderick Jones
Zach Frazier & Ryan McCollum