The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday and on the road and if you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the game begins. As usual, I will attempt to project the Steelers inactives for every game of the 2020 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets Sunday afternoon against the Ravens.
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. Also, the new roster rules make this exercise even harder as team’s can promote up to two players from their practice squads to their active roster on gamedays. Team’s also can dress up to 48 players for games if 8 offensive linemen are dressed.
QB Joshua Dobbs – Dobbs remains the third-string backup quarterback to starter Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph going into the team’s Week 8 game and that’s not a bit surprising. Barring any injuries, Dobbs is likely to remain the Steelers third quarterback all season so that means he will likely be listed quite frequently on the team’s game-day inactive list in 2020. Dobbs has already been inactive six times this season and his seventh time should happen on Sunday against the Ravens.
S Jordan Dangerfield – The Steelers special teams captain sustained a quadricep injury during the team’s Week 7 road game against the Tennessee Titans and after failing to practice any this past week he was ultimately officially ruled out for Sunday’s road game against the Ravens on the Friday injury report. This will mark the first game this season that Dangerfield has missed.
ILB Ulysees Gilbert III – The Steelers backup inside linebacker finally saw action on defense last week against the Titans. However, Gilbert wound up being added to the team’s injury report no Thursday with a back injury and after failing to practice again on Friday he was officially ruled out for Sunday’s road game against the Ravens. The Steelers elevated outside linebacker Jayrone Elliott from the practice squad on Saturday, so he’ll likely get a helmet on Sunday and play on special teams in place of Gilbert.
FB Derek Watt – A hamstring injury will likely prevent Watt from playing on Sunday against the Ravens. Watt, who also missed the Steelers Week 5 and Week 7 games with a hamstring injury, only practiced fully once this past week and that was on Wednesday. After being listed as a limited practice participant on Thursday and Friday, Watt ended the week listed as questionable on the team’s injury report. The fact that running back Trey Edmunds was signed to the roster from the practice squad on Saturday is another sign that Watt likely won’t play against the Ravens.
DT Carlos Davis – Davis, the team’s seventh-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, was inactive for the team’s first six games and on Sunday against the Ravens he’ll likely be on the list of seven players once again. With defensive linemen Henry Mondeaux and Isaiah Buggs both expected to dress on Sunday with Chris Wormley out and now on Reserve/Injured, the Steelers will have their normal gameday count of five defensive linemen available. Davis can probably look forward to not dressing for games quite a bit throughout his rookie season.
TE Zach Gentry – Gentry has yet to dress for a game this season and it looks like he won’t get a helmet on Sunday against the Titans and especially if running back Trey Edmunds is elevated from the practice squad. Gentry is not much of a special teams asset and with fellow tight ends Vance McDonald and Eric Ebron both healthy, it will be hard to justify getting him a helmet if Edmunds is needed to help out to replace the injured Watt on Sunday.
G Derwin Gray – The Steelers got starting right guard David DeCastro back from his abdomen injury last Sunday against the Titans and that resulted in Gray being back inactive again. The Steelers presumably will have all their usual offensive linemen ready to play on Sunday so Gray will likely be inactive again against the Ravens. The Steelers backup offensive linemen on Sunday against the Ravens should be guard Kevin Dotson, J.C. Hassenauer, and Jerald Hawkins. Gray has already been inactive a few times this season.
