The Pittsburgh Steelers are are headed to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars on Sunday. With an outstanding 9-0 record, the Steelers need to make sure they take care of business as preparation for their next game on Thanksgiving will have to be fast and furious. But that game does it matter until the Steelers are on their way home from Florida with hopefully another notch in the win column.
There are new rules in 2020 when it comes to the players active on game day. As long as a team has eight offensive lineman who will be dressing for the game, they could have 48 players on their active roster rather than the 46 in previous seasons. So unless the Steelers elevate any players from their practice squad, there inactive list should only be five players.
NOTE: If there is a change to the projected number of inactive players after the release of the projected inactives, it will be updated to reflect the move.
Game Status
Out:
RB Jaylen Samuels (quad)
RB Trey Edmunds (hamstring)
LB Jayrone Elliott (illness)
Here are the possibilities to end up inactive for Week 11:
Definitely:
RB Jaylen Samuels- After not practicing the previous week due to being on the Reserve/COVID-19 List, Samuels tweaked something in the game and is needing some time to recover from the soft tissue injury.
RB Trey Edmunds- Becoming quite the special teams player, missing time for Edmunds is not going to be the best way to make sure he sticks on the 53-man roster.
LB Jayrone Elliott- Inactive in Week 10, Elliott was held out all of Week 11 due to illness. To say his roster spot isn’t in danger would be a somewhat foolish statement.
Most Likely:
QB Josh Dobbs- Ben Roethlisberger is fine. Mason Rudolph is the back up. If Dobbs keeps going over what he sees with Roethlisberger every week, he may be priming himself for a post-playing days career in coaching.
Possibly:
DT Isaiah Buggs- With the Steelers having six healthy defensive linemen…
DT Carlos Davis- ...one of them will likely not get a helmet…
DT Henry Mondeaux- ...the only question is which one will be the odd man out.
Unlikely:
TE Zach Gentry- Until Vance McDonald comes off the Covid list, Gentry is the number two tight end.
Projected Inactive List:
- Jaylen Samuels
- Trey Edmunds
- Jayrone Elliott
- Josh Dobbs
- Carlos Davis
The top four names on this list seem pretty cut and dry, but it ultimately will come down to any transactions made by 4 PM on Saturday. Will the Steelers activate Chris Wormley off of IR, giving them yet another defensive lineman? What player would be released if this happens? Will the Steelers elevate a running back since two are out, or are three (plus a fullback) plenty? As for the final spot, it was Davis before he got a chance to play, so I’m going with him as being the bottom player although the Steelers may now feel otherwise.
UPDATE: Chris Wormley has been activated to the 53-man roster and Antoine Brooks Jr. reverted back to the practice squad since he was promoted under COVID-19 rules as a replacement for Kevin Dotson. Regardless, it does not change the number of players on the inactive list and almost assures the fifth spot will be a defensive lineman.
As always, feel free to list your projected inactives in the comments below.