The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday and on the road to kick off their 2021 regular season 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 2021 season and below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets on Sunday against the Bills.
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 elevate up to two players from their practice squads to their active roster for gamedays. Team’s also can dress up to 48 players for games if 8 offensive linemen are dressed.
QB Dwayne Haskins – Haskins is starting the 2021 season as the Steelers third string quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph. That place on the Steelers quarterback depth chart usually results in the player being a weekly inactive. In short, expect Haskins to show up on the Steelers inactive list quite often throughout the 2021 season.
G Rashaad Coward – The Steelers need to dress at least eight offensive linemen on Sunday and with the five starters set, that leaves tackle Joe Haeg and center J.C. Hassenauer as two others very likely to get helmets. The final decision should come down to Coward and guard/center B.J. Finney. Finney finished the preseason seemingly ahead of Coward on the depth chart so that should result in the former getting a helmet and the latter being the lone inactive offensive lineman.
TE Zach Gentry – The Steelers will undoubtedly want to dress at least two tight ends on Sunday against the Bills and their top two choices should be Eric Ebron and rookie Pat Freiermuth. With Gentry not being much of an asset on special teams, he’s likely to be the odd tight end out and especially with the team entering Week 1 overly healthy
CB Ahkello Witherspoon – The Steelers will likely have at least one defensive back inactive on Sunday against the Bills and with Witherspoon being the newest player and not overly thought of as being a huge special teams asset, he’s likely going to be the one chosen to be inactive.
DE Isaiahh Loudermilk – The Steelers usually only dress five offensive linemen for games in situations where 53-man rosters are used. The team also did not elevate defensive tackle Henry Mondeaux on Saturday to be part of the active/inactive roster so they’ll likely have just five inactive players on Sunday. Loudermilk, the team’s fifth round draft pick this year, will likely be the odd man out and mainly because he’s an inexperienced rookie.
