The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night 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 Monday night against the Bengals.
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 15 game and that’s not a bit surprising. Barring any injuries, Dobbs is likely to remain the Steelers third quarterback the remainder of the season so that means he will likely remain a mainstay on the team’s game-day inactive list in 2020. Dobbs has already been inactive thirteen times this season and his fourteenth time should happen on Monday night against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
G Kevin Dotson – Dotson injured a shoulder in the team’s week 15 Sunday night road loss to the Buffalo Bills. After failing to practice any this past week, Dotson was officially ruled out for the Monday night gamer against the Bengals on the team’s Saturday injury report. With Dotson out Monday night, the Steelers are likely to start J.C. Hassenauer or Derwin Gray at left guard against the Bengals.
RB James Conner – Conner ended the week listed as questionable on the team’s injury report after failing to be a full practice participant all week. On Monday, Conner, who is currently dealing with a quadricep injury, was downgraded to out on the injury report so he will not play against the Bengals. With Conner out, rookie running back Anthony McFarland Jr. gets a helmet Monday night after being inactive in Week 15.
DT Carlos Davis – In Week 14, defensive end Isaiah Buggs was inactive. the week prior to that, it was Davis who was the inactive defensive lineman. There’s been no rhyme or reason as to which one gets the final helmet. I will go out on a limb and guess that Buggs gets sat down again Monday night against the Bengals but I won’t be surprised if he dresses over Davis just the same, This is a huge crapshoot right now when it comes to these two players and the inactive list.
OLB Jayrone Elliott – The Steelers recently added outside linebacker Cassius Marsh and odds are good he’ll be active Monday night against the Bengals. If that’s the case, Elliott might be the odd man out at inside linebacker and thus wind up on the inactive list.
S Antoine Brooks Jr. – The Steelers get cornerback Joe Haden back on Monday night after he missed the Week 15 game with a concussion. The Steelers also elevated linebacker Tegray Scales on Monday to provide depth at that inside position. Scales also can contribute some on special teams. With the team needing seven inactives Monday night, it makes sense that Brooks might be one of them.
