Rudolph, Green the only healthy inactives for the Steelers in Week 6

The Pittsburgh Steelers have released their inactives for their Week 6 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Staudium. With five players still on the 53-man roster being ruled out due to injury, the list is made up of of only two healthy scratches. With new roster rules which began in 2020, teams will only need to have five players inactive each game unless they elevate any players from the practice squad. With the elevation of Elijah Riley and Quincy Wilson coming from the Steelers on Saturday, the seven-man list comes courtesy of Steelers.com.

Steelers Inactives

No. 2 QB Mason Rudolph
No. 20 CB Cam Sutton
No. 25 CB Ahkello Witherspoon
No. 39 S Minkah Fitzpatrick
No. 29 CB Levi Wallace
No. 53 G Kendrick Green
No. 88 TE Pat Freiermuth

For Week 6, a large portion of the inactive list was known on Friday as the Steelers ruled six players out from playing against the Buccaneers. One of those players, rookie defensive end DeMarvin Leal, was placed on the Reserve/Injured List (IR) on Saturday and is therefore no longer on the Steelers 53-man roster for at least the next four games. The other five players make up what would be the typical inactive list except for the fact the Steelers elevated two players from the practice squad.

Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon is missing his third-straight game with a hamstring injury which had him ruled out during the Steelers Week 3 matchup. Witherspoon has yet to practice since the injury, but the Steelers have appeared hopeful that Witherspoon would return as they did not place him on IR.

Four new players land on the inactive list this week due to injury, three of which are from the Steelers defensive secondary along with Ahkello Witherspoon. All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, as well as cornerbacks Cam Sutton and Levi Wallace, were ruled out on the Steelers injury report on Friday. Additionally, tight end Pat Freiermuth will miss Week 6 as both he and Levi Wallace are still in the NFL‘s concussion protocol.

With a number of players who are typically on the Steelers inactive list either all season or just last week, there’s only room for two of them to not get a helmet. The healthy players inactive this week who are the least likely to be needed on game day are quarterback Mason Rudolph and center/guard Kendrick Green as they are both inactive for the sixth-straight game.

With so many players injured, two players for the Steelers will be seeing their first action of the 2022 regular season assuming they get on the field. Second-year defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk is active for the Steelers with the Marvin Leal now on IR. Rookie seventh-round draft pick Mark Robinson gets his first helmet in the NFL with the Steelers needing as many bodies on defense as possible.

With the Steelers down a tight end, and no need to have an additional player on the inactive list, both wide receivers Steven Sims and Gunner Olszewski are active for the game. Last week Olszewski replaced Sims on the inactive list as he had two fumbles through four games as a punt returner. But with no need to have another player on the list, both are active against the Buccaneers.

As for the Buccaneers inactives, they can be seen below courtesy of Steelers.com.

Buccaneers Inactives

No. 2 QB Kyle Trask
No. 6 WR Julio Jones
No. 8 TE Kyle Rudolph
No. 23 CB Sean Murphy-Bunting
No. 26 S Logan Ryan
No. 32 S Mike Edwards
No. 96 DL Akiem Hicks