Yeah he's an eager blocker but I think he'll ultimately have to move to the outside, or at least he won't be an effective blocking slot guy. I personally do not think he has the size you want out of an ideal slot WR and his speed makes him fit a lot more on the outside.
My ideal WR group is built something like:
WR1: All around good WR (Aiyuk)
WR2: Physical WR (Higgins)
WR3: Speedster WR (Worthy)
WR4: Speedy gadget WR (I like Austin for this role tbh)
WR5: Veteran physical/blocking WR (Boyd but worse)
I think Pickens fits that WR1 spot (if he matures) and they obviously have Austin, but they really need that physical WR2 and speedster WR3. I think Wilson could become that speedster WR3, but that would probably require him moving to the outside.
As long as this team wants to be run heavy, I want 4/5 WRs to be plus blockers. If Wilson can't be a physical blocking slot because of his size, I don't want him and Austin to both be on the team. They probably need to upgrade the TE room too.
But we'll see it when Wilson gets a few more snaps on video. I think right now the only snap I know of where Wilson played was that Harris run where he ran through half the Raiders team.
Which is pretty inexcusable from Tomlin if the OC is saying "the best way to run this offense is with Fields as the QB". Not to mention all of the murmurs coming out that a lot of people are unhappy Fields is being benched.
Tomlin going rogue and making a move that a ton of others in the organization don't agree with is a bad look from him.
I personally have no problem with Tomlin overruling a co-ordinator. I don't think a head coach can go rogue on this issue. He's the one who gets it in the neck if the wrong guy is in, and he's the one who is setting the ultimate strategy for the team on the field, and that gives him the right and responsibility to say "this is the guy".
But not being able to carry the OC with him on this decision is alarming.
Ok yeah so that totally answers any of my skepticism over this not being a unanimous decision.
It's good to have clarity
My question is how deep it goes. The moment the stories dropped I thought of Smith, because he really supported Fields, and Sadowski, their Director of Player Scouting, who was Director of College Scouting back when the Bears drafted Fields.
But Sadowski is in Pittsburgh because he first worked with Khan at Tulane in the 90s. So is Sadowski in Khan's ear in favour of Fields? Because that'd be real messy if this doesn't go well...