The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Indianapolis Colts Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the game begins. As usual, I will attempt to project the seven inactives for every Steelers game of the 2019 season and below is my best guess as to which seven players won’t be given helmets Sunday against the Colts.
Game inactives are officially announced 90 minutes before kickoff, so make sure you check back at that time to see the names of the players for both teams who will be sitting the game out.
Benny Snell Jr. – The Steelers rookie running back suffered a knee injury Monday night and that ultimately required surgery. Snell is expected to not only miss the Sunday game against the Colts, he’s expected to miss a few more games additionally. He was officially ruled out for the Sunday game against the Colts on the Friday injury report.
Ramon Foster – Foster was ruled out for the Steelers Sunday game against the Colts on the team’s Friday injury report due to a concussion he suffered in the first half of the team’s Monday night home game. Foster did not play the entire second half Monday night and failed to practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. With Foster ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Colts, B.J. Finney will start in his place art left guard. Additionally, the Steelers will likely dress tackle Chukwuma Okorafor on Sunday with Foster being inactive. Doing that will still give the team seven dressed offensive linemen.
James Conner – Conner, who ended the week listed as doubtful on the Steelers Friday injury report due to a shoulder injury suffered late in the Monday night game, will more than likely be inactive Sunday against the Colts. Conner failed to practice all week with his shoulder injury. The team promoted running back Tony Brooks-James to the 53-man roster from the practice squad on Saturday and that’s yet another sign that Conner won’t play Sunday against the Colts. With Conner likely sidelined on Sunday, Jaylen Samuels is expected to start in his place and be backed up by Trey Edmunds.
Paxton Lynch – The Steelers look poised to keep Lynch on their 53-man roster for the remainder of the season as their No. 3 quarterback. Lynch isn’t expected to dress Sunday against the Colts, however, and thus figures to be one of the team’s seven inactive players 90 minutes ahead of kickoff.
L.T. Walton – The Steelers chose to dress rookie defensive end Isaiah Buggs over Walton on Monday and so there’s no reason to think they won’t do the same thing Sunday against the Colts. Buggs has been on the 53-man roster all season while Walton was re-signed during the bye week after defensive end Stephon Tuitt was lost to a torn pec. The Steelers usually only dress five defensive linemen every week so Walton likely winds up on the Sunday inactive list.
Zach Gentry – The Steelers already have two tight ends in Vance McDonald and Nick Vannett and use tackle Zach Banner as a blocking one several times a game. Even with fullback Roosevelt Nix banged up and questionable with a knee injury, he’s still likely to dress and play on Sunday. Assuming Nix is good to go on Sunday, expect Gentry to be on the team’s inactive list once again.
Justin Layne – The Steelers still have a very healthy secondary entering Sunday so that should result in rookie cornerback Layne once again not receiving a helmet. Layne has only dressed for three games so far this season and his fourth one isn’t likely to happen on Sunday against the Colts.
