Steelers in-house WR upgrade isn’t walking through the door anytime soon

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been in dire need of a wide receiver ever since they traded Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers this past offseason. Ever since that trade went down, the Steelers have been connected to just about every available wide receiver, yet they've failed to bring a quality number two option in.

They were connected to Brandon Aiyuk, but the San Francisco 49ers re-signed him instead of trading him to Pittsburgh. They were connected to Davante Adams, but the Las Vegas Raiders dealt him to the New York Jets instead of to Pittsburgh. And just recently, they were connected to Los Angeles Rams star Cooper Kupp, but it doesn't seem as though the Rams are considering moving him anymore at the NFL Trade Deadline.

And bad has turned to worse, as the Steelers' wide receiver room took another hit ahead of the Week 8 matchup with the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Steelers place 2024 third round pick WR on the IR ahead of Week 8 matchup

The Steelers announced that rookie wide receiver Roman Wilson would be placed on the injured reserve, sidelining him for at least the next four weeks.

Wilson was a limited participant leading up to Pittsburgh's Week 7 matchup with the Jets before being listed as inactive for the game. This led to him sitting out of practice all week leading up to the Steelers' Monday Night Football matchup with the Giants, ultimately landing on the IR.

Wilson has yet to make his Steelers debut following injury frustrations all season long.

When the Steelers dealt Diontae Johnson away, they likely felt like they had enough in their wide receiver room to replace him. Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson and veteran Van Jefferson would have been enough, on paper. But with Wilson not playing for at least another four weeks and the other two struggling, it's hard to argue that the Steelers have enough depth at the position.

Still, Pittsburgh could, and likely will, look to upgrade with a bonafide wide receiver two in the coming weeks. The answer just won't be the in-house solution that they imagined when they used a third-round pick to bring Roman Wilson to the Steel City.

Some of the top options for the Steelers include Mike Williams of the Jets and Bo Melton of the Green Bay Packers. Either way, Pittsburgh can't sit on their hands with this hole in the roster. It could definitely come back to bite them down the road.