I see Mike McCarthy is trying to prop up Roman Wilson, seemingly wanting to keep alive the flickering possibility of him turning into an NFL something. Wilson caught 12 touchdowns for Michigan back in 2023 but hasn’t gained much traction in his first two season.
In a similar vein, the Bills have Keon Coleman, who hasn’t done much in his first two seasons, even getting thrown under by the team owner when Sean McDermott got fired.
Is there any chance of either of these guys getting things turned around, perhaps earning a second contract with their teams.
Wilson hasn’t played much, but he was one of the teammates invited by Aaron Rodgers to a recent team-bonding retreat in Montana. He was hurt for most of his rookie season, but I saw a couple of decent grabs last year.
“He was one of the first men to reach out and clearly ask what the expectation was of him, how I view him, how I saw him fitting in as the roles X, F and Z,” McCarthy says. “He’s doing the work. He’s had a great offseason. I just need him to keep showing up and keep working his tail off because he’s got a skill set, there’s a lot there to work with. Roman’s done a really nice job.”
Joe Brady has made similar comments about Coleman, who’s seemingly making a reasonable effort at carving out a role for the Bills.
“People are going to say what they want to say. At the end of the day, my job is to come out here, put my cleats on, strap them up and prove my worth here,” Coleman says. “It’s time to put it all together.”
The odds of either guy putting up noteworthy stats in 2026 seem bleak. Both teams traded for notable wide receivers in the offseason (DJ Moore and Michael Pittman), and both teams have much more accomplished receivers returning (Khalil Shakir and DK Metcalf). The Steelers also used second- and fourth-round picks on wide receivers, which isn’t a good sign.
In general, I wouldn’t use a fantasy roster spot on either Coleman or Wilson unless I see some sign of them being new and improved in the preseason. And even an improved version or either would seem very unlikely to finish with notable stats.
But I did push around some numbers on this issue, and they show that it is at least theoretically possible for receivers to turn things around after not doing much early in their careers.
In the last 10 years, 55 wide receivers selected in the first three rounds of the draft have finished outside the top 60 (PPR production) in both their first and second seasons. Six of those players (just over 10 percent) have put up top-25 numbers in their third season. Davante Adams, Jameson Williams, Nico Collins – these are big-time players.
Another three moved up into the top 45 in their third year, with Alec Pierce landing a big contract early this year. In the chart below, I’ve got them tagged with black dots, and I’ve got the top-25 guys in bold.
| SLOW STARTING WIDE RECEIVERS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2016 | Davante Adams, G.B. | 75 | 997 | 13.3 | 12 | 248.7 | 9 |
| 2016 | • Marqise Lee, Jac. | 63 | 851 | 13.5 | 3 | 180.6 | 40 |
| 2016 | Paul Richardson, Sea. | 21 | 288 | 13.7 | 1 | 56.3 | 106 |
| 2016 | Josh Huff, 2TM | 16 | 113 | 7.1 | 1 | 40.8 | 121 |
| 2016 | Cody Latimer, Den. | 8 | 76 | 9.5 | 0 | 15.6 | 156 |
| 2017 | Devin Funchess, Car. | 63 | 840 | 13.3 | 8 | 195.0 | 22 |
| 2017 | Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 62 | 768 | 12.4 | 8 | 193.5 | 23 |
| 2017 | Phillip Dorsett, N.E. | 12 | 194 | 16.2 | 0 | 32.1 | 127 |
| 2017 | Chris Conley, K.C. | 11 | 175 | 15.9 | 0 | 28.5 | 130 |
| 2017 | Breshad Perriman, Balt. | 10 | 77 | 7.7 | 0 | 17.7 | 145 |
| 2017 | Sammie Coates, Cle. | 6 | 70 | 11.7 | 0 | 13.0 | 163 |
| 2017 | Jaelen Strong, 2TM | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 1 | 12.8 | 164 |
| 2017 | Kevin White, Chi. | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | 2.6 | 189 |
| 2018 | Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 76 | 1028 | 13.5 | 7 | 221.1 | 17 |
| 2018 | Will Fuller, Hou. | 32 | 503 | 15.7 | 4 | 106.3 | 69 |
| 2018 | Laquon Treadwell, Min. | 35 | 302 | 8.6 | 1 | 71.2 | 94 |
| 2018 | Leonte Carroo, Mia. | 2 | 94 | 47.0 | 1 | 18.8 | 158 |
| 2018 | Corey Coleman, NYG | 5 | 71 | 14.2 | 0 | 12.6 | 165 |
| 2019 | John Ross, Cin. | 28 | 506 | 18.1 | 3 | 97.0 | 74 |
| 2019 | Chad Williams, Ind. | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 999 | |
| 2019 | Taywan Taylor, Cle. | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 999 | |
| 2020 | TreQuan Smith, N.O. | 34 | 448 | 13.2 | 4 | 103.1 | 72 |
| 2020 | Dante Pettis, 2TM | 4 | 76 | 19.0 | 1 | 17.6 | 164 |
| 2021 | Parris Campbell, Ind. | 10 | 162 | 16.2 | 1 | 32.2 | 141 |
| 2021 | N'Keal Harry, N.E. | 12 | 184 | 15.3 | 0 | 30.4 | 143 |
| 2021 | JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Phil. | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 | 5.6 | 197 |
| 2021 | Andy Isabella, Ari. | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | 2.3 | 218 |
| 2021 | Miles Boykin, Balt. | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 1.6 | 223 |
| 2022 | Devin Duvernay, Balt. | 37 | 407 | 11.0 | 3 | 116.1 | 61 |
| 2022 | Denzel Mims, NYJ | 11 | 186 | 16.9 | 0 | 29.6 | 137 |
| 2022 | Jalen Reagor, Min. | 8 | 104 | 13.0 | 1 | 26.9 | 138 |
| 2022 | KJ Hamler, Den. | 7 | 165 | 23.6 | 0 | 25.8 | 140 |
| 2022 | Bryan Edwards, Atl. | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 0 | 4.5 | 188 |
| 2022 | Lynn Bowden, N.E. | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | 230 |
| 2023 | Nico Collins, Hou. | 80 | 1297 | 16.2 | 8 | 260.4 | 12 |
| 2023 | Tutu Atwell, LAR | 39 | 483 | 12.4 | 3 | 112.4 | 62 |
| 2023 | Rondale Moore, Ari. | 40 | 352 | 8.8 | 1 | 105.0 | 66 |
| 2023 | Rashod Bateman, Balt. | 32 | 367 | 11.5 | 1 | 76.5 | 85 |
| 2023 | Kadarius Toney, K.C. | 27 | 169 | 6.3 | 1 | 53.0 | 108 |
| 2023 | Dyami Brown, Was. | 12 | 168 | 14.0 | 1 | 35.0 | 134 |
| 2023 | Terrace Marshall, Car. | 19 | 139 | 7.3 | 0 | 32.9 | 137 |
| 2023 | Dee Eskridge, Sea. | 0 | 0 | 0 | .5 | 204 | |
| 2023 | Amari Rodgers, Ind. | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 231 | |
| 2024 | Jameson Williams, Det. | 58 | 1001 | 17.3 | 7 | 212.2 | 22 |
| 2024 | • Alec Pierce, Ind. | 37 | 824 | 22.3 | 7 | 161.4 | 43 |
| 2024 | • Jalen Tolbert, Dall. | 49 | 610 | 12.5 | 7 | 152.0 | 45 |
| 2024 | John Metchie, Hou. | 24 | 254 | 10.6 | 1 | 55.4 | 112 |
| 2024 | Tyquan Thornton, N.E. | 4 | 47 | 11.8 | 0 | 8.7 | 173 |
| 2024 | Treylon Burks, Ten. | 4 | 34 | 8.5 | 0 | 7.5 | 175 |
| 2024 | David Bell, Cle. | 3 | 27 | 9.0 | 0 | 5.7 | 189 |
| 2024 | Velus Jones, 2TM | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 2.9 | 198 |
| 2024 | Skyy Moore, K.C. | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 999 | |
| 2025 | Cedric Tillman, Cle. | 21 | 270 | 12.9 | 2 | 60.0 | 99 |
| 2025 | Jalin Hyatt, NYG | 5 | 35 | 7.0 | 0 | 8.5 | 183 |
| 2025 | Jonathan Mingo, Dall. | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | 3.5 | 206 |
—Ian Allan
